The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-03-28

station II, where 1 worked" he said,
sis a night station on a single-track rail-
road in New Hampshire. G, the nearest
night telegraph station north of it, was
eight mides away, and ", the nearest one
south, was twelve. My duty in summer
was solely that of operator; in winter I
also looked after the fires in the waiting
rooms. There was seldom much operat-
ing to do a night, and it was Away easy
to keep awake until 1 o'clock, when | us
ually ate lunch. Even at that hour the
time didn't pass very slowly in summer,
but on cold and stormy nights in winter,
when had to stay constantly indoors, the
greatest effort was needed to keep from
failing asleep After 9 O'Clock all the
trains that passed were freights, and there
were half a dozen south bound and as
many more nOrthbound in the course of
the night. II was part of my duty TO
note the time that each of the trains
passed my station and report 1t at once
TO headquarters, at A-the same rule APP
plying to all the operators on the line. That
was one of the customs which made il
dangerous for an operator to fall asleep,
If only for five minutes Another thing
that annoyed him and often made him
swear was the roll call. This consisted in
the train dispatcher at A office (ifty miles
south of I'D calling each Office on the line
every half hour, beginning with the one
to answer a roll call had a black mark
placed against 1t at A, with a record of the
time when the call was given. At first
the roll call made all the boys look sharp
aud toe the line, but they soon found a
way to cheat il.
THE main wire running through II was
considerably more than 100 miles long;
and on a wire OF that length Il Is quite
impossible for an operator at it's term nus
TO tell by the sound which Of two or more
offices not more than twenty five miles
apart is doing the telegraphing unless
the sending operator signs his station call
Knowing this. several of the owls on
the line arranged 20 take turns with each
other in answering the roll. For example,
the operator at G would answer my calls
between the hours of / TO g. and would
attend TO his from to s. What a crack
ing good way this was ia battle the train
dispatcher. we thought. and the eXcnange
Of duty was Kept up between us for a
long time; IN fact too long, so far as my
own case was concerned ] refer to an
incident that took place during the winter
of So, which. far a few hours nearly
froze the marrow in my bones. 1t happen
ed like this:
Through freight No. 2ii. north bound
was due at my station at l:35 and was
scheduled to meet south-bOund freight No
2Sl AT +. fifteen miles further up the road.
No. 2n was scarcely ever behind time.
and the two trains usually met at p with
out requiring telegraphic orders The
night i'm question was very cold and
stormy fully three feet Of snow had fallen
and Il was still coming down very fast
while a high wind was piling Il In big
drifts across the track. on a night like
that the iucosant humming OF the wires
outside the station is enough OF itself. 20
put sentinel to sleep and that. coupled
with the hour, l1, and an Office temper
ature OF 50 degrees. was more than nv
weary frame could resist. / fell asleep.
knowing, Of course that G would. accord
Ing TO our arrangement, look after my roll