The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-09

sas City begins to send. Mr.. Snaggs pricks
mn his ears and interrupts the sender.
Amt tt u Billy Robinson?' he asks, and
the other man says, Ives, it's me, ur ole
Tommy Snaggs." MIR. Snaggs returns:
tits wO am l thot reconzed ur sendln."
Then they devote few moments to telling
of their travels. The last time they worked
on the same wire one was i'll Boston anu tho
other in Montreal.
It is a peculiar fact also that an exper-
fenced operator can almost invariably dis-
tinguish a woman's sending from mans.
There is nearly always some peculiarly
about woman's style of TRANSMISSION. IL
is not necessarily a fault. Many women
send very clearly and make their dots ana
dashes precisely as they were intended to
be made. 1t is impossible to describe the
peculiarity, but there is no doubt OF It's ex.
isteuce. Nearly all women have habit OF
rafting off a lot of meaningless dots beIore
they say anything. But some men do that
mans, and her dots and dashes VIII not
carry SO well on long circuit. That u
presumably the reason why IN oil large q
ices the women are assigned TO work !he
wires running to various parts OF the cues.
Operators laugh over the wire, or rathe,'
thew convey the fact that they are amused.
| They do this by telegraph "ha, ha. Very
GREAT amusement is indicated by sending
sha'' slowly and repeating it several times;
and smile is expressed oy , ssnaang i
slowly ana repeating it tells the perpetrator
Of the joke at the other end of the wire that
/ the listener ia leaning back in his CHAIR ana
laughing long and heartily.
Twenty or twenty-five wears nave mace
great changes for the telegraphers. In the
Old DAYS an operator was an individual to
whom great interest was attached, ana
around whom was great halo OF mystery:
Then he received salary which was deemed
handsome for what WAS apparently sucn
light work. In boarding house ne was
always the star. Railroad passes we're OBJ
tainable by him for the asking. He was
frequently given the freedom Of Cities and
when it was not given to him he sometimes
took IL. But how-well, the old-timers as
sert that the business has gone to the dogs.
One drawback has been pointed to as pre-,
venting their advancement IN the iact .na'
homrs are. Of course, spent in the company
/; Of other operators, but 80 are their leisure
honra. They do not seem to care to clrcu-
late among people Of other business. This
, Of course, is not the case with all OF them
but It 10 with very great number. Inc
, nothing of matters or people outside OF tht
: telegraph GLASS.
This handicap works to prevent then
q from realizing desire which sooner o.
9 later enters the heart of every telegraPhel
. Ito get into some business where there is
g nossibilitv of advancement. But when h
q looks over the tield--if he gets beyond tb'
q mare yearning-he sees that he will have T.
I, accenf n much smaller income than he j
. already receiving. and that settles it. HI
2 continues to yearn, but he takes no action
= He finally becomes like man who has beel
r, long in the government service. He stay
Z in a rut. In the telegraph business thu
. comfortable berths are for the very few
l. That condition obtains more there thai
= in any other business,