Morning journal and courier., 1891-08-17
ROMANCE OF THE DESERT. Married His Friend at the Other End of the Wire When He Found He Was She.

Married His Friend at the Other End
 of the Wire When He Found He
 Was She.
 From the San Francisco Chroniclel
 Telegraph operators frequently make warm friends with each other with no oth- CT means of communication than the in sensate wire, and more than once friend ships thus made have lasted for years with out either person having so much as had a glimpse of the others features. It is not often, however, that courtship is carried on under such circumstances, but pretty little romance come from the desert which had for its sequel the recent registration at prominent hotel of 'tJ. J. Stansbury and wife, Jackson Springs, Cal" The sto- ry is repeated by the Los Angeles Herald in the words of the hero himself.
 About year and half ago." said he, ''l was railroad agent and telegraph oper- ator at a little station down on the desert side of Yuma. The station, consisting of nothing more than big water tank, a shed for myself and another for small crew of trackmen. There for nearly year I put in the loneliest and the hottest time that ever passed in my life. The ther- mometer had way of monkeying around between 100 degrees and 150 degrees above zero on most days, and almost my only pleasure was found in talking over the wires with the operators at various stations along the line.
 ''I had never seen the operator at Ban ming at that time, but he was cheerful, jol- 1y sort of 8 fellow, and, as time also hung heavily upon his hands, we passed many a pleasant hour in conversation over the wires. We had sort of half arranged to get a vacation together, and there was a good deal of joyful anticipation-on my part at least-of the manner in which we should pass it. We were to go into mount aims and spend two or three weeks in hunt ing, fishing, &c. All of our plans were days, and we usually agreed in our ideas of the preparations, although there was oc- casionally little difference in opinion
 'I remember, for instance, that he said he was going to take along pair of rub Der boots for trout fishing, while I asked him: Whats the matter with your taking off your shoes and stockings and rolling up your pants!" But he said that he pre-. ferred boots As the time drew near, how ever, he for some reason that I could not understand backed squarely out of the en- terprise, much to my disgust.
 Finally, he told me one day that he was going to New Mexico to pass his vaca- ton, and we anticipated considerable PAOaouAC III A1COOlllS C6tCA OtuSI uuIluR Gu6 trains brief stop at my station. But I did not meet him at all, for when the train that bore him arrived I was sick and unconscious with burning fever, the result of my long stay under the torrid sun.
 Unto the fever-tortured brain there sometimes creeps semi-consciousness of the life about it, and so during the days of my agony was vaguely aware of gen | tie, womanly hands and kindly feminine | presence in my sick room, and when I re- | turned to the conscious world I was not surprised to find fair and pleasant face | beside me. She said that she had been up- on the train when I was found stricken | down, and had stayed to minister to my l sore need. The idea may seem preposter- ous, but believe the foundation of my l affection for my kind attendant had been laid while the inconsistencies of fever was still upon me, and the affection grew | into the deepest love as she cared for me during the days of my convalescence. | "After time I venture to tell her of my | love, and to ask her if she would be mine 1 but was not prepared for her answer.
 John, she said do you really near 1 that you wish to marry a girl that insis | upon wearing rubber boots and will not | roll-'
 "'Mat!' I said, for I was completely | beaten. Then it flashed upon me. Sht was the operator at Banning, and I, like | fool, had always taken it for granted tha | she was man.
 | "Well, I am not going to tell how con vinced her that I wanted to marry her boots and all, but did it, and, like Rarkis she was willing, and here were are on oul
 wedding journey. The Southern Pacific has lost an operator, but I calculate that