The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1893-04-18
OVER THE WIRE.
Familiar Telegraph Talk AS It
Looks In Typo.
Many Authorizations and what They
Mean--How an Operator Judges OF
Fellow Laborer's Temperament and
sentiments some short stories.

There are pairs Of men who have
been in daily communication with each
other over the same telegraph wire for
years, and who have never seen each
other. Each is well acquainted with
the others temperament, his moods, his
disposition, and his sentiments. Tele-
graph instruments and telegraph wires
are unfeeling and stolid-looking
things. Yet. through than man Is
able to convey emotions Of sorrow or
10y almost as plainly as they may DO
expressed fncially. The fact Ia perfect
" palpable to the man ut ono end Of
the wire, while he IL receiving dis
patches, that the man who Is sending
them Is i'll or well, or--though the
sender may make use OF no terms Of
friendliness or of swear words that
he is in good temper or bad.
In their conversation tclegraphers
use a system Of authorizations which
enables them to say considerable more
IN certain period Of time than they
otherwise could. It Is not quite as
compact as the Phillips code, but an
swcrs their requirements very well
Their morning greeting to friend in q
distant city Is usually ~. mr." and the
farewell in the evening ~. n" the let
ters Of course standing for good morn
ing and good light. Tho salutation
may be accompanied by mi inquiry by
one as to the health Of the other. which
would be expressed thus: s'Hw u Is
mng2n And the answer would be:
sim PITY wi. INV u2'' or Pm mt fig w
wi; fraid I've ct I malaria
BY the time these courtesies have
taken place some early messages have
come from the receiving department or
from some other wire, and the man be-
fore whom they are placed says "Wl,
hrs fu; goi darn is everlastin grind. !
wish WIS rich" And the other man
says mo rest for wicked, min
pen, the last words indicating that he
wants the sender to wait minute
while he adjusts and tests his pen
Presently he clicks out ''g. q, mean
ing go ahead, and the days work has
begun.
Operators laugh over the wire, or
rather they convey the fact that they
are amused They do this by telegraph
ing shal hai'' Very great amusement
Is indicated by sending '.ha" slowly and
repeating it several times, and smile
Is expressed by sending 'shaH orce or
perhaps twice. Transmitting II slowly
and repeating 1t tells the perpetrator Of
the joke at the other end Of the wire
that the listener Is leaning back in his
chair and laughing long and heartily.
When the feeling between two opera
tors in two cities, instead Of being that
of gentle affection, is that of strong
dislike, the fact can be made just as
apparent as though they were within a
few feet Of each other. No personal
collision can occur, Of course. This IS
one of the drawbacks. But man can
call names and make threats over q
wire with almost the same facility as
BY word Of mouth. One Of the favorite
resorts when two operators are quar-
reling Is that known as fighting cir
emit " Not much is accomplished by
this, however, for when two operators
strive at the same time to call names
over wire neither can succeed
Photographers have an old story about
fighting circuit" James Austin. who
is located on Newspaper row, who Is
Canadian BY birth, brought the
story to this city, one Of the
operators In the story being
located at Toronto and the other at
Buffalo, After successful exchange
Of uncomplimentary remarks they be-
gan to fight for the circuit that Is, they
both tried 10 send epithets over the
wire at once. They fought for some
time. Neither would yield. The man
at Toronto, who was old and astute.
saw that the man at Buffalo was young
and stubborn and was In for an all
night struggle. The Toronto man
looked around for proxy. He found
It in the clock wire, which was . wire