Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1891-02-06

likely to ooze out after u few hours
ride, and the visit, instead of being
sanguinary, may be one of harmonious
peace and good feeling 1t may be
stated positively that no quarrel begun
over telegraph wire has ever resulted
fatally.
In their conversations telegraphers
use system of authorizations which
enables them to say considerably more
in certain period of time than they
otherwise could. Their morning greet
ing to a friend in a distant city is
usually 'g. M" and the farewell for the
evening "g. H." the letters Of course
standing for good morning and good
night The salutation may be accsm-
panied by an inquiry by one as to the
health of the other, which would be ex-
pressed thus: III Il is mng?" And
the answer would be: "I'm pity wi; INV
uP' or "Pm mt fig Wy wi; fraid I've
ct t mlaria."
BY the time these courtesies have
taken place some early n essages have
come from the receiving department or
from some other wire, and the man be-
fore whom they are placed says to his
friend many miles away: "Wl hrs fu;
Col hang is everlastin grind. wish ]
VS. rich" And the other man says:
mo rest TO wickd, min pen," the last
two words indicating that he wants the
sender to wait minute while he ad-
iusts and tests his pen. Presently he
clicks out ''g. a." meaning 'go
ahead" and the days work has begun.
If the sender is old in the business he
will take a steady, even gait and the
fact that the messages are piling up
faster than he is getting rid OF them
won't worry him. When the pile gets
too big he will notify the chief operator,
and that important individual will
probably take a portion of them away
and have them sent by another wire.
But if the sender is young and ambi-
tious he will, as soon as the messages
begin to accumulate, deem 1t his duty
to "whoop 'em up" and. unless the
other man is ambitious too there will
be trouble pretty quick.
The receiver will break" good
deal, and directly he will observe: ''Oh
DIT b in sch bloomin hurry, won't ct
ur salary raised tt way" And the
sender, being young and fresh" will
reply to the effect that the receiver is
'ham" and will advise him to get rlf,"
which means that he ought to get up
and let a competent receiver take his
place. Then he will snap out the figure
~" peremptorily, which is the arbi-
trary sign standing for where shall
60 ahead?" But although he may
hurry and perspire, he won't send as
many messages as the steady old fell
low .duri ng the day.
No two operators send alike. The
click of the instrument is always the
same to the ear Of man who does moi
understand it. but one operator recog'
nizes the sending Of another If he has
ever heard it before for any length OF
time, Just as familiar face is recog'
nized. Operator Tommy" Snaggs
leaves New York, and, after roaming
from one city to another, finally lands
in the Calves ton (Tex.) Office and goes
to work. He is put down to work wire
running to Kansas City. The man II
Kansas City begins to send. Mr.. Snagg'
pricks up his ears and interrupts the
sender. "Ain't tt Billy Robinson?'
he asks, and the other man says: Eyes
it's me, & ur ole Tommy Snaggs." MIR
Snaggs returns: sits wo am, and tho
/ recognized ur sendin." Then they
devote few moments to telling of thei
travels. The last time they worked OF
the same wire one was in Boston an(
the other in Montreal.
1t is peculiar fact also that an OK
perienced operator can almost invari
ably distinguish woman's sending
from a mans. There is nearly Away
some popularity about woman's styl
of transmission. 1t Is not necessaril.
fault Many women send very clearl.
and make their dots and dashes pre-
cisely as they were intended to be made
1t is impossible to describe the pecul
iarity, but there is no doubt Of its ex
istence. Nearly all women have habi
OF rafting off lot Of meaningless dot
before they say any thing. But som
men do that too. A woman's touch l
lighter than a mans, and her dots an
dashes will not carry SO we'll on YER
long circuit That is presumably tn
reason why in all large offices the won
en- are usually assigned to work tn
wires running to various parts of tn
; cities.
Operators laugh over wire, or rather
they convey the fact that they ar
amused. They do this by telegraphin
"ha, ha." Very great amusement is II
dictated by sending 'ha" slowly and re
peating it several times, and smile
expressed by sending "ha" once or pei
haps twice. Transmitting 1t slowly an
repeating it tells the perpetrator of tn
Joke at the other end of the wire ths
the listener is leaning back in his chai
and laughing long and heartily.-N.
TiYnao