The herald., 1893-06-20
AT A CABLE STATION.
ISOLATED OPERATORS LIVE IN A
WORLD ALL THEIR OWN.

WORLD ALL THEIR OWN.
Picturesque Scenes at the American Ter
Thirty 1Ien Live Peculiar Kind of Ex-
istence by Themselves.
To an outsider the words 'life at
cable station" convey a vague sort of
meaning, such as the term ''life on board
ship" would imply to ono who had new
er been to goa. The very pecuharity of
cable life attaches to it something Of q
special interest. IT win be my endeavor
here to portray as far as possible what
life is at one of tho busiest and most I'M
portant cable stations in the world, land
ing two ocean cables from Waterville,
Ireland, two from New York city, one
of which is operated direct from Wall
street; also cable to st. Pierre, Mique-
lon, and working direct land system
in connection with and over the Cana
dian Pacific railway.
It Is q well known fact that cable sta
tons, as q rule, are placed upon the most
outlandish spots imaginable, in thus
N4DO Oii4 O"tA4S5 tl4O VI tbVOlS quo VI bOuCu
with society and the world at large.
Just picture to yourself q moment a
small cape running out into the Atlantic
on the most northeasterly point of the
American continent. A little to the
south and situated somewhat ON hill
you will see what appears to be o small
village circling into the shape Of horse
shoe. The background is thickly clothed
with small fir trees, and Immediately at
the foot of the hill is large lake with
miniature islands clothed in rich green
foliage.
Beyond the lake and as far Us the eye
can reach is one vast expanse of water di-
viding the eastern and western cont
nents of Europe and America. At once
you are brought to the "Canso station"
of the Commercial Cable company.
To the southeast Of tho lake the broad
Atlantic rolls along in heavy monotone,
while far away on the horizon dark
line of smoke floats leisurely in the wake
of a passing steamer. Tho station itself
has a picturesque appearance in tho
glistening sunlight, the handsome Office
with its bold frontage standing like a
sentinel at the western gateway. There
are the finely laid out tennis courts, tho
broad crescent of substantial villas, with
their small patches of greensward and
flower beds in front, and the neat little
clubhouse with its small piazza, where
the men enjoy their pipes of an evening
and watch the feet Of fishing boats or
ocean travellers passing round the cape.
At the eastern entrance ere the bache-
lors' quarters-a large 2-story building,
accommodating nearly 80 men. Two and
half miles away is the fishing town of
Canso, with its 1000 inhabitants.
There is nothing outside to portray the
amount of activity going on within the
Office. The commercial world is in full
swing, the cables are being worked at
top speed, and messages are pouring in
to be transmitted to all parts of the hab-
table globe. Business is being transact
ed between tho London and New York
Stock Exchanges almost as speedily as in
the exchanges themselves. Here one
gets a general idea of the Importance of
submarine telegraphy to the world at
large and the value of time. No stop
ping, no pausing, nothing but rush, rush,
rush. the clicking of saunders, the work
ing of automatic senders, the tapping Of
keys, andthe steady buzzing of recording
instruments.
The operators have the money market
under their control; are edifying the po-
litical world with tho latest conundrums
or flashing forth the tidings of some
dreadful calamity across the submerged
chains which link the old world with the
new.
Life at G cable station is not all sun
shine, neither is it all shadow, We have
our periods of dullness as well as our sea-
sons of pleasure, advantages as well as
disadvantages. We live in an uncon-
ventional manner, but there are times
when we experience a thirst for town
life with all its rush and rattle, merely
for a change. On the whole. however,
we are very contented and happy; there
is such a sense of freedom SO far removed
from the congested atmosphere of city
life. Roam where one viii, there is no
one to say, "Whither goest thou?" One
can shoot al over mo mans land" or
cast the deceptive fly on lake CT stream
and vile the silvery trout from their va
rious haunts. There are no preserves.
therefore no ganekeepers or watchers.
In season we have boating, tennis,
cricket, riding and other sports to brace
Us up for the mental strain of the oper-
ating room: also our concerts, dances
and picnics to mark the superficial side
of life. Naturally we have to rely on
our own resources for amusement and
entertainment, and at u large station
there is generally fair supply OF talent
in various directions.
When winter is upon us with its icy
grasp when the trees and everything
around are clad in beautiful garb of
white and glistening snow, we don our
furs. and away we go across country to
the merry tinllle of sleighbells. Snow
shoeing and skating also form important
features of our winters pastime
When the shades of evening cast their
dark nantes around us, we gather in
the CHEEKY clubhouse and over our pipes
discuss the latest news from the outside
world, sum up "reminiscences Of other
days, talk of episodes in our lives and
experiences at other stations In other
lands. with no foreign element to break
our bond of fraterldty.
There is a strange Bohemianisn in the
life Of "a cable operator. The constant
moving about he is subject to, the living
Sn foreign countries and mixing with
different races give him q cosmopolitan
education, with Il broad and generous