St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-10-12
'OLD PROB" AT HOME.
The Men and Materials q weather
~ " Headquarters. go.
A Berth in the Signal Services No 6lnecur>
Hard WSeking Mem Who s1Guse
Know Every Thing aAA Tell
All Thev Know.

~ Is popular mistake Sn0t lll0 10
the United States Signal Service corps
is very easy. if not a lazy. affair.
As matter OF fact the members oi
the Signal Service corps have to per.
form a multitude OF duties, and in
some cases the performance Of duty is
attended with real hardship.
There are more than one hundred
signal stations in the United States.
OF these the largest are those at New
York. Boston. Chicago. St. Louis. Gin
cinnati and Kansas City. These are
first-class stations, and the force at
each consists of six men or more.
whose work is SO allotted that at least
one of them is on duty at all times.
The interior OF even q first-class
signal station is not particularly At
tractive; few desks, two or three
huge barOmetcrs and Thermometers,
some automatic registering instru-
ments. telegraph keyboard. and q
hand press and printing outfit con-
stitute the conspicuous furniture.
There is nothing in the place that is
not necessary to the prosecution Of
the work.
The instruments are small. but they
are most important and ingenious.
One of them. for instance. which
works in conjunction with whirligig
on the roof. registers the velocity Of
the wind the whole day long. and an
other registers the temperature. These
instruments are very delicate In con-
struction and accurate in performance.
Electricity and clock-work play no
small part in their operation.
The men in the Signal Service come
nearest TO being Observation-Disclosures of
any men in the Government employ.
They must be telegraph operators in
orderatO send and receive messages
over tie wires: they muss. beable to
set type and use press; they must un-
derstand meteorology;- they must be
good Iaathematicians;- they must Be
good b,ok-keepers. ssa$&- - Er
The signal station in a great seacoast
city is at the fop of high building.
The officer in charge comes to the
place little before eight o'clock in
the morning. and usually remains until
after eight in the evening. Every
moment Of his day ~ occupied by
routine duty. the performance Of which
requires careful training.
The first work OF the day 10 70 take
the morning observation. This is done
at the same instant OF time at all the
stations in the country. The chief OBJ
jects OF this observation arc TO note
the condition of the boFom6ter, the
temperature. the dew p0fyk, the rela-
tive humidity Of the atmosphere, the
direction and velocity OF ths wind.
and the state of the weakhoS.
This obser vssion havi1ceeenstAken
and verified. the chiefM( = 6ncer
reports to Washington bS teliGraph.
and records ip his own kaAha1xact
state OF affairs. in shisz1nl11so11N This
work occupies perhaps se4Fsy fhf4itcs.
and within an hour afeer timD set
for the morning observati6n-eight
o'clock-thc chief station at Wsshing-
ton has received reports from all the
stations in the service. and a summary
of these reports has been sent out to
all points. sr.y - 4.
Upon receiving from Washisgtoathe
summary of the reports Of the entire
service. our signal oflicer prepares his
weather man The blank form we
map Of the United States. about two
feet long and fourteen inches vide,
which shows all the signal stations
and all the principal Cities q thlcolle
try.
He docs his work with pen and ink,
and copies OF il ;sre then made upea n.
apparatus called the cyclostyle. ReI
maps show great number of dotted
and solid lines. which indicate the req
lister of tho barometsea reduced to -
level at diherene points. and the tenn
peraturc In degrees Fahrepheit sA1
press gives the finishing touches to tha]
map. On this press is . large metaa1
bed-platc perfoesae4wish IRON seventy |
to ono hundred square hotsA each o.
which represents the geographical
position sf aprsminent = sikaal station:
Directed BIZ his instructions fr0m the
chief signal otiires. she operator Plasse
in each q thess.hslas Shat 10 called q
symbol type. > \ Ane circie meahs
clear; a eirc.c with a heavy line acrosk
Il means fair; aud there are variola1