The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-01-09
Stories of an Inland State.

Stories of an Inland State.
Typewriting machines have come into
such general use that nearly every writer
of letters, stories, or events has become a
mechanic.
The author may be forced when his viii
Ian raises his dagger and starts to do
something terrible to stop and go proving
around through the twisted rods and tiny
nuts and spiral springs with screw-driver
seeking to find cut why his machine has
caught and the carriage stopped. The
excitable reporter may, in putting some
Eigh-colored finishing touch on the descrip-
ton of the last nights murder. discover to
his horror that he has piled all the letters
of one line in a single small spot And
the stenographer who does not take the
precaution to take a dictation in short
hand first and transcribe Ii afterward; or
who writes dictation straight-way On the
sheet as il falls from the lips of the latter
day letter writer may discover TO her or
his horror, that she or he has forgotten TO
put in the sheet of paper and that the whoi5
epistle is lost irredeemiably on the black
surface of the rubber roll around which the
writing paper winds as the little type
bounce up and strike, through the inky
ribbon, against il.
This was the experience of Miss Boiling,
the stenographer of the Boss.
Night was coming down. The Boss had
dictated all his letters for the day. He
had told the stenographer she might go.
She had put on her wraps and was at the
door. He was also attired for out-of-doors
and was fumbling in drawer for some
thing when he turned and said:
Miss Boiling. Just a minute. Take q
letter. I'm in a hurry.
He took out his watch and clapped the
case together again:
Il have just five minutes to catch that
train. Write it right off on the paper
Mail it for me and get it off sure tonight.
Go ahead"
The typewriter was already clicking the
date line in.
Dear John:
eff you are not here at five, TIL not be
here, unless you are not here. If not here.
wire answer. MARK.
ITO John Criggle. Torreyton.''
The stenographer clipped the words off
Eoss. She did not notice that she had for
gotten to put in any writing paper and
neither did he.
The letter was finished.
town. 1t is very important. I'll be back
in the morning. Sure now, the letter mail
ed tonight. Good Bye
The Boss went out the door, The steno-
grapher reached to pull the paper from
the roll
The paper was not there.
The young woman ran for the door, down
one flight of steps and onto the street. He
had gone. He was going out of town. She
rushed to the telephone.
There were four depots in the town She
telephoned each: eff you see Mr.. Mark
Wayne on the platform, have him telephone
this Office, No. 81, at once
Then she went back to the typewriter.
The letter was short. But she knew the
second she saw the paper was not there
that she could not repeat from memory the
little, but important letter. She took her
screw-driver, loosened the rubber roll, took
it off, sprinkled it with bensine, and rolled
ii over and over on a white sheet of paper.
Vain hope. The moistened roll printed
on the white paper an undecipherable jar
Gon Of letters, piled one on another, three
deep
The poor woman sat down In despair to
wait for the telephone.
AT last it rang
Some one asked If Mr.. Wayne were there
1t was dark now. If any telephone
messages were to come from the depots
they would have come long ago. The mail
for Torreyton left at midnight She must
get that letter and send 1t on that mail
Supper? 1t could wait. Her mother? Poor
thing, she would worry, but this was ne
cessity, was fidelity.
Then she reproached herself for her care
lessness. She was crying, sobbing at her
folly. What would Mr.. Wayne think of
her? And what would become of his
friend John Criggle. Then the words came
back to her.
IF you are not here at five, I'll not be
here, unless you are not here. If not here,
wire answer
Surely so the message ran. Then she
looked at it. What did it mean. The words
contradicted. No. those were not the words;
that was not the message.
Then again came the words to her mind
IF you are not here at five, I'll not be
here unless you are not here. If not here,
wire answer
IF you are not here unless you are not
here" she repeated over and over again.
Not here-here-here-unles you are here
mot here
Four hours she struggled to discover the