The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-09-13

cents, and for each answer that he
back to be forwarded from the
Office, lie receives Scents. This explains
why a.telegraph boy is always ready to
wait for an answer. The amount Of
money which a boy can earn in q day
thus depends, it will he seen, on his
own activity. It is fonnd that the v
age number of messages delivered from
the main office every day is three thou
sand, and the average number delivered
by each boy is thirty-five. A boy who
is q slow walker or inclined to he law
will not deliver SO many, while q very
active boy will deliver more. Now, do
you know how fur q boy will have to
walk in q day, delivering these mes
sages and returning to the office? Not
less than nineteen miles! And this
does not include going up and down
stairs, which is ut small matter in the
business streets, where Offices are found
oil the way from the ground floor to
sixth and seventh stories. You may be
sure that, to telegraph boys, elevators
are welcome machines.
The messages at the main Office are
received on the seventh floor, from which
wires connecting with almost oil
parts of the world. As soon as an
operator has written o message thut has
come in, it is sent down to the ground
floor through u tube. On it's arrival
there, a clerk takes it and writes on it
a number, beginning with No. I, for the
first message received each day. 1t is
then put through a steam copying
press, and is next passed to a clerk,
who puts it into an envelope, on which
he writes the number and the address.
The clerk passes it to still another clerk,
who copies on a sheet of paper properly
prepared, the number of the message
and the number of the boy who is to
deliver it.
The distribution of the messages
among the boys is made as follows:
Each boy, as he ONE into the office in
the morning, receives what is called a
delivery sheet, that is, n sheet of
paper with blanks in which to write the
numbers of messages, the time of leav-
ing the Office, the name and address of
the receiver, and the time of the mes
senger's return. Each messenger is
known by his number, and each of them
has a pasteboard cover for his delivery
Sheet" on which his number is written.
These sheets, i'll their covers, are put
into u rack by the side of the clerk last
mentioned above, and he always puts a
message, when ready, into the cover
nearest to him, and calls out the NUM-
Der of the boy to whom it belongs.
When n boy comes back from the deliv.
cry of a message, he puts his cover into
the rack behind those already there,
and sits down to wait until it reaches
the clerk. Through this method their
can be no chance for any p~artiality. and
the sooner n boy gets back to the office
the sooner will another message be
ready for him. You can see, now. by
what you have read, that a telegraph
boy does not lead IL lazy life. His hours
of duty, if he is a day boy, are from Z
a. m. until 6:3O p. m. OF course, only
a few boys are required to deliver mes
Mt night, as n rule. But there are
,A,nos 14 ..S .,~e. "4.,.. " S4caU in;iily
messages come in for delivery between
l and Z IL. nj. AT such times, ambitious
boys are given an opportunity to do en-
ira work. Sometimes a boy can do u
good days work by 8 n. H., and he is
then allowed by the superintendent to
"lie off" or, us you will better UNDER
stand it, take n holiday. If u boy in
this business does have a holiday, he
usually has the satisfaction of knowing
that a good days work and u days pay
have already been set down to his
credit.-W 4. Linn, IN st. Nicholas
for December.
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