Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-11-02
HER TEN-WORD MESSAGE
An Instance Where an Attemut IN
skeletOnize WINS False Ecopomx

'''" 'he 'Hi'aeo DAILY Tribune.
MT Blodgett twirled the slim of yellow
paper thoushtfully around between his
'humb ana forefinger. aud when he looked
| up Mrs Bedgett saw that he was about ta
communicate something of considerable i'm
| portance.
Caroline" he said. eli isn't often tho,
find fault with you because of your on
pendltures L like TO see Won dress .x..,l
and keep the house UP in good siyle anal
Now. 10 IL" '
And Mrs Blodgett admitted he never did.
But there's one thing | do kick abouf :"
Went on Mr.. Blodgett, land that Is m,
literal throwing away of money Lis.en
10 ms las telegram you sent me- ana tell
| me what you think of it, viewing il in In.
| light of common sense:
| Dear Robert: Come directly up to the
| house from the depot. l have invited some
| friends for o'clock dinner. Joey had a
| toCth extracted yesterday. Your loving
| wife. .CARDIINE'
''Of course / was glad to see our friends
| at dinner, and 1t was all right about Joey's
! tooth, but 1 should have appreciated il lust
| as much as If you hadn't wasted SO much
money in telling me about IL. 1 don't mind
the money so much, but L do hate to give
| il to the telegraph company. Hereafter
Caroline. when you find il necessary to send
4 telegram limit your message to ten words
It's very easy matter to express yourself
with that number of words if you only
think So"
Then Mr.. Bicdgett went TO ST Louis on
business. He had been there three DAYS
| and had pushed his schemes SO energeticsl-
ly that meeting with several gentlemen at
the Planters Hotel on the evening of the
fourth day would in all probability. bring
the deal to a successful issue. Several
hours before the time of his appointment
he received a telegram from Mrs Blodgett.
1t read:
Fire Sam frightened joey badly hurt no
one escaped uninjured."
Mr.. Blodgett pored over the unpunctuated
message for several minutes. Ii was de-
cided puzzle. At last his anxious mind
evolved this out of the chaos:
Fire. Sam frightened. Joey badly hurt
No one escaped uninjured."
Then his fatherly heart was troubled at
the thought of his little boys lying at
deaths door and the wife of his manhood
passing into eternity without his being
there. He hastily scrubbed notes of ex-
PLANTATION to his business associates and
took the first train for Chicago.
His pulse throbbed wildly and tears
ccurSed down his cheeks he neared his
home. and when he saw that the house at
least externally. was not damaged. a
prayer OF thanksgiving ascended on high
apd H. hoped things were not quite so
bad represented. He let himself i'm and
hurried upstairs. His wife was III her
room. He clasped her I'm his arms and
wept aloud
Thank heaven you are not badly hurt"
he cried. Where are the children
'Out i'm the yard playing" she said.
Why. what on earth ails you?'
out playing SOON he said. What
old You mean by this" and he gave her
the telegram.
Why, just what IT says" she replied
Fire Sam frightened Joey badly Hurt
no one. Escaped untnjured
" If l hadn't wished to confine myself to
ten words | should have said that the fire
was around the corner. that Sam fright
ened Joey with new false face and that
all escaped uninjured. hut l had TO leave
out words. L thought you'd understand il
all right"