Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-13
CONvERSING BY TELEGRAPH.
An Operator Says He Is Not Conscious
of the Click of the Instrument.

From the New York Tribune.
"Do hear the click of my Instrument" said
a telegraph operator when asked what was the
sensation of receiving message and writing il
out at the same time. well, suppose do
else could not take the message, but the sound
does not make a noticeable impression on my
ear. In fact, am never conscious of the fact
that there is a click. 1 do not associate the
actual dot or dash with the letter To me it is a
letter itself. So when / am receiving it is
precisely the same as if some one was talk
ing to me. Most Of the messages come along
SO rapidly, you know, that they make a run
ming conversation. 1t is not precisely as il you
were talking to me here, but rather as If you
sat in one corner of a room and spoke to me.
This is so true that when question is asked
an operator fancies that he hears the rising of
the voice at the end of the sentence. This
prevents one from being overcome by the ter
rible monotony OF the thing. for often get
interested in the messages. When / am receiv-
ing graphic newspaper account of any Incl
dent feel as il some one was telling it to me.
Perhaps 1t is more real to me than to one who
| reads it afterward.
Sometime when nv wire is not at work
| lie back in my chair and dose off. When
another operator begins to call me the effect is
| the same as If he spoke my name in my ear, re-
peatng it over and over again, do not asso-
ciate the call with anything but the idea ii rep
resents. That Is why the little pleasantries
which two operators exchange do not seem SO
unsympathetic to us people think they are
/ have had men laugh at me when | told them
| that had just greeted fellow operator after
| getting him. The thing struck them as being
| ludicrous He heard nothing but the metallic
| snap. 1t often happens that you lose track of a
man for long time. Some day he hobs up
| again at the other end of a wire. You don't
discover who IL is until the message is over the
wire, perhaps. Then you say 'Hullo, where
have you been; how are your just about as you
would if you met him in the street.
Then you get to know some man whom you
have never seen. You talk with him. say 'hullo'
| and 'good-by' and get well acquainted with
| him in time. You wonder what he looks like.
| whether he is tall or Short and such things
| Some day he changes or you change, for opera
/ tors are always moving around. you meet him
| and you are friends on the spot. OF course,
when you know a man personally and talk with
| him, the conversation is all the more natural
/ But you mustn't get the idea that operators say
/ much over the wires at one time. They don't
| often have the time. When work is pressing
we jump from one message to another without
wasting much time.
"Can recognize certain men by their touch
/ on the key? No. / can't say that can. But
/ there are some men who are like lightning, and
/ usually find out pretty soon whether or not
/ the fast man of an Office il on the other end.
| Then there are men who are terribly slow, so
| that / feel as il was listening to a drawing
voice. I can tell when have taken two words
whether the sender Is q good or poor opera
| tor"