Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1889-04-13
PloUs TELE0RAPhERS
Night Operators Conduct Sunday School
Service by Wire.

Night Operators Conduct Sunday school
Service by Wire.
The latest fad, and one much more
likely to be productive OF good than
the majority of these Outgrowths of
our rapid civilization, has recently de-
veloped among the night operators on
the Nashville, Chattanooga 4 st. Louis
railroad, between Nashville L. Chat
tanooga, and a widespread popularity
for it would be the means Of much
good. They have organized Sunday
school, which meets, or rather assem-
bles, at different points along the wire
every Sabbath morning at two o'clock.
This novel association is opened with |
prayer by the superintendent, J. b.
Blamblet, night operator at Martrace,
Tenn, followed by the reading of a
Scripture lesson and the regular inter- |
national Sunday-school lesson. Glasses
are organized and the pupil with the
quickest mind and nimblest fingers
captures the circuit, and his generosity
will have to be relied upon to prevent
corner ON answers and give all fair
showing. Of course singing is impossi-
BILE No amen corner can be estab-
lished; and no flirting with the pretty
girls in the choir will ever break up
the organization and throw the differ
ent communities into uproars. No
jealousies of organist and chief singer;
only the soft clicking of the machines
and the murmur OF the wires in the
clear night air, carrying the message
which was first chanted by angels on
another starry night nineteen centuries
gone by. The first regular session after
the Organization was completed was
on last Sabbath morning. The theme
was the cleansing Of the-leper, the old
pathetic story OF his faith and healing,
as told by Saint Mark in the first chap
ter of his epistle Reverent fingers
sent the words over the magic wires:
"If Thou wilst Thou canst make me
clean" Then from another sleeping
town came the murmur as if in answer
to the prayer of each soul so mysteri-
Ously in communication with other
souls by this God-given mystery of
electricity: II will; be thou clean"
Some one along the line thinking more
OF markets, stocks and trusts than of
devotion, sent clicking along the wires:
"And he straightway charged, cab
bage, fifteen cents; potatoes, Irish,
fifteen and twenty ents,-''and forth
with sent him away"-with market
closing dull on wheat. I'VE have al
ways had feeling of pity for these
boys of the wires who, through the
night long must do nothing but listen
during each ghostly hour to the mo-
notonous tick, tick of the instruments,
and have greatly desired to paint some
soft tinges on the hard tragedy of their
every night life. But down here in
the sleepy Southland these electric
knights have solved the difficulty for
themselves. What an era of religious
activity we may expect when this be-
comes universal, and instead Of begin
ming religious services after the old
fash at $50 u. M
we read: "All along the line there
will be Sunday-school services. begin
ming promptly at 2 a m. and continu
ing one hour" The only trouble We
can foresee growing out Of this new
departure in electric science is thai
some politicians may object on the
ground of union of church and State
!. For instance, in the heat OF campaign
some patriot. intent on saving his coun
try, should choose the hour of 2 a. m
to send along the wire message tt
bring confusion in the camp of the
enemy, bit of intrigue, any thing tt
beat the other fellow, and it should be
come mixed with the exercises of ou
Sunday-school boys. who are just a
that moment repeating the golden tex
by wire: I'm honor preferring one an
other.' We await with much curiosit
the outcome OF the Sunday y-school unde
the stars. ars.-Chattanooga (Tenn.) Let
ter.
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