Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-11-14
coNvERsINo BY TELEGRAPH.
An Operator Says He Docs Not Hear tho
Click of tho Iustrument.

An Operator Says Ho Docs Not Hear tho
Click OF tho Instrument
''Do hear the click OF my instru-
ment?' said telegraph operator when
asked what was the sensation OF re-
ceiving message and writing it out at
the same time "Well, ] suppose | do,
else ! could not take the message, but
the sound does not make noticeable
impression on my ear. In fact, | am
never conscious OF the fact that there
Is a click. | do not associate the act
ual dot or dash with letter. To me
1t is letter itself. So when lam re-
ceiving it is precisely the same as If
some one was talking to me. Most Of
the messages come along SO rapidly,
you know, that they make running
conversation. 1t is not precisely as if
you were talking to me here, but rather
as II you sat in one corner OF 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 terrible monotony of the thing,
for | often get interested in the mes
sages. When am receivinga graphic
newspaper account OF any incident |
feel as If some one was telling it to me.
Perhaps it is more real to me than to
one who reads it afterward.
sometimes when my 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, repeating it
over and over again. l do not associ-
ate the call with any thing but the idea
it represents. That is why the little
pleasantries which two operators ex-
change do not seem so unsympathetic
to us as people think they are. l have
had men laugh at me when | told them
that had just greeted fellow oper-
ator 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
man for long time. Some day he
bobs up again at the other end of a
wire. You don't discover who it is, un-
til the message is over the wire, per-
haps. Then you say 'Hullo, where
have you been; how are you9' 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 and 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 operators are always NOV
ing around, you meet him and you are
friends on the spot. OF course, when
you know man personally and talk
with him, the conversation is all the
more natural. Butyou 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 pres
sing we jump from one message to
another without wasting much time.
"Can | recognize certain men by
their touch on the keyp No, l can
say that | can. But there are some
men who are like lightning, and | usu-
ally find out pretty soon whether or
not the fast man OF an Office is on the
other end. Then there are men who
are terribly slow, so that feel as If
was listening to drawing voice. l
can tell when have taken two words
whether the sender is good or poor
operator. IN. Y. Tribune.