The age-herald., 1900-10-09
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE


 ing to get something authentic, I walked around to the Age Herald building and went upstairs to the editorial rooms These had the usual appearance of such places papers scattered on the floor piled up on tables, the reporters and editors scribbling away at their desks, the telephone ring ing, the printers coming for copy and the public struggling in occasionally for news. Over all the various sounds could be heard the scarcely Intermittent click of the tele- graph.
 Outside in the street not breath of air was stirring. It was hot inside. but here at least was an electric fan, the hum of whose blades made low, murmuring note lilre the drone of a June-bug. Right in front of the fan, in a shocking state of decollite, sat the Associated Press opera tor, generally known as the A. F. man. Before him was a typewriter, out of which rolled long sheets of typewritten paper, as his fingers flew over the keys with light ming rapidity, while by his side was the telegraph receiver, clicking away so fast that an untrained ear could not tell a dot from dash
 He was the central figure of the scene, SeiAA iiS hS llhS lHS thanksgiving OI q Wdlcn. If he breaks down, the rest of the ma ehinery cant run. I looked at him in amazement. His utter disregard for his life startled me. I would as soon have thought of going to sleep in an ice box as sitting in the full draught of that electric Ian, with nothing between it and my back but gauge undershirt. Poor fellow, l thought; he will be dead of pneumonia in a week. This was a month ago, however and, I may add, he is alive yet.
 He was also the center of interest that night, for everybody wanted to hear from Galveston. First came a telegram from Dallas that the wires with Galveston were down, and that it was rumored that 2OOO people had been drowned. Then came in a long story about the disaster. The type writer was rolling off sixty-five words a minute; the electric fan was putting in several hundred revolutions in the same time. l stood around greatly interested in the scene, and particularly in the A. P. man as he transcribed sounds into words Then came a hot bulletin: Twenty five thousand people drowned in Galveston! he called out. Then the telegraph instru- ment fairly began to hum, singing a bass ~-ONS the fan. The typewriter rolled forth It's coils of paper, and copy was rushed up- stairs to the printers to be set up in type. This went on for a while, when a private bulletin of the Associated Press came in instructing the operator to kill all the news sent in so far, as new story was to be sent out It was then pretty late, and little time was left to set up new story. However, an A P. man can turn out 125 words a minute. The telegraph in strument was now going so fast that 1t seemed that dashes were rendered by dots, and what should ordinarily be dots were left out altogether. The typewriter rocked and groaned as the A. P. wrung 125 words out of it every sixty seconds. Final ly the story was set up about o'clock in the morning, when the presses of the Age Herald published it to a mortified public"
 It may be interesting to explain how telegraph operator receives 125 words minute. The telegraph instrument receives about fifty, but these are sent in cipher. For instance, the instrument clicks out the letters p-r-a-n-s. This means the Presi- dent today sent to the Senate the follow ing nominations" While the telegraph clicks 'prans'' the operator has to print on the typewriter the interpretation as above. Then the typewriter matter is given to the printer, who sets 1t up in type. c-k-x means committed suicide"; s-a-k, "shot and lclled"; p-o-t-u-s, President of the United States; u-t-c, under the cir cumstances'; F-z, "Philippine islands; k, ''out of the,'' etc., etc.
 In the middle ages. some times called dark, as lights were expensive, and people lived in the dark after sunset. it used to be the custom for men to lock up the wo. men in towers or other strong places in the castle-women being valuable in those days when they could sew, embroider tapestries, heal wounds and fall in love- II was fad of the time also for the knights to rescue their ladye faire from tower, instead of picking them from off the carpet as is done now. A lady who did not have a tower from which she could elope stood a poor chance of getting married. She was as useless as a parachute without it's balloon. Consequently it was ''the thing to be lock ed up and liberty was curse not to be de- sired. What would have become of TO- nance if it not been for the donjon, the locked up lady, the locked out knight and the troubadore stumbling around after dark and breathing night air? How could chiy- airy have bloomed like rose, and revelry blossomed on the nose, if there had not been lady or two to rescue? Lovers in those days never broke fathers heart, they always broke his head. Some times they did 1t with battle-ax and some times with strong drink. In either case the lord of the castle or as he would be called now, the old gent, was put hors de combat. Afterwards he was put to bed if he was still alive or put in his grave if he was still dead.
 A story comes from Baltimore that the women are now turning the tables in the matter of imprisonment. A man has brought suit against his niece for $500 dam ages, alleging that she has frequently as- saulted and beat him during two years, and during that time kept him imprisoned for long periods of time, some times in the hath room and some times in the cellar