The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-07

| In their narrow bed IN indignant pro-
test at the manner in which / mangled
the dot and dash characters which he
left behind to benefit the world L soon
ceased to seek for pastime in that
quarter and busted myself smoking
writing letters, reading such books and
papers as / could borrow or pilfer from
the crews of passing freight trains, and
/ often sitting with my unpublished shoes
cooked up on the telegraph table build
ing the arrest sort of air castles.
| 1 one day heard of the arrival of a
new operator at Wa-ka-ru-sa, the first
station east Of me. and there was a
CLEAN of encouragement in the thought
| that 1 might find in him a more con-
| genial neighbor than his predecessor
| had proven himself to be. The day
| following his arrival called him up,
and as an opening wedge to what
hoped might prove a mutually pleasant
acquaintance, asked him how he liked
his new station. He expressed the fear
| that he might find 1t very lonely
/ place, as he had nothing to do but re-
! port the unfrequent passing trains and
/ TO take an occasional train order from
! the wires. l told him of my loneliness,
and suggested that when the wires
were not busy we might be able to
while away the laggard hours in an
| agreeable conversation. We talked for
nearly an hour, and he then excused
himself TO go to his dinner During
the afternoon 1 several times kicked
him up and fired my execrable
Morse" at him, and was greatly
pleased at his witty replies to my
chatting. 1 was delighted with this
cheering oasis in the great desert of
prairie solitude and retired that night
| in more contented frame of mind
| than 1 had known for long time.
| he
call. and when 1 began to click an in
troductory greeting into his ears, he
broke in on me and said. Very busy
just now" 1 called him several times
during the forenoon, but elected no
response. After dinner l went at him
with more persistency, and he finally
! answered me-
| W.T. u BIN doin' all a. MP asked.
In the abbreviated conversational code
! of the telegrapher.
! "xcuse me. I'm busy talk NV.
Posting books"
| knew this to be a fb. He had told
me he had nothing to do. and / knew
from knowledge 1 had gained from his
| predecessor that books were kept at
| that station only for show. They were
never opened to receive records of BUSH
ness, for no business in the freight or
| passenger line was ever transacted
|
days l frequently called him, and his
nlmble fingers would transmit the one
! word, Busy ss~
l grew to hate him, forlI felt that he
mad become tired of me and desired no
further intercourse with me- began
TO picture him as a cross, suriy old
! ogre, hateful even to himself. and
ceased all endeavors to draw him into
conversation
| The roadmaster alighted from train
one day, and, coming into my office
wrote long telegraphic message TO
| the section foreman at Wa-ka-ru-sa
1t was on matters pertaining 10 repairs
on switches. ard contained numerous
| ngures and fractions. I had scarcely
begun its transmission ere the operator
broke me-" and asked me TO repeat. I
began again, and again he broke and
sent me back several words Break
after break followed and became ner-
vous and angry and dashed off the
characters even yet more blindly than
was my wont, He broke again and
| asked:
Who is at the key?'
L replied that twas I, the operator
and asked why he had fired such an
unnecessary query at me.
Il thought it might be one of the
section men. What alphabet are you
using now?''
This keen thrust at my inefficiencv
made me furious. 1 swore aloud. and
would have laden the wire with pro-
fanity would it not have been a ia
grant violation of a strictly enforced
company rule
IF you can't take it I'll send it by
train l hotly said. II don't believe
you could correctly copy a verse from
Mary Had Little Lamb a rhyme
you know my heart"
Not if you should send it" he re-
torted, for it would sound more like a
Chinese war song"
This made me wild and determined
to go down there on a freight train
then nearly due, and lick the impudent
fellow If it should cost me my position.
when the train pulled in 1 Jumped into
the caboose, and as we rolled down the
valley l pictured to myself the head
L would put on the insulting snob.
was too angry to consider but one side
of the case, and lost sight of the fact
that 1 had replied to his slurring re-
marks with others as cuttingly severe.
10 ease my mind 1 told the conductor
of the object of my trip.
I'm mop up his office floor with hint
l said, in my rage. "I'll fix that face
of his IN such hideous shape that his
mirror will turn pale when he looks
into it,"
If you viii take my advice YOU Will
not tackle that fellow the conductor
quietly replied. IF you do you will
come back wishing you had not made
such fool of yourself. He is no or
binary man, 1 tell you
L don't care if he is as big as a box
car. viii do him up L hotly replied.
I've got the scientific skill and the
muscle to back il and I'll fix his face
so it would scare pillow team"
prided myself on my athletic ac-
complishments. At college I had al
ways been regarded as a champion in
the manly art of self-defense During
the latter few months of my college life
it was difficult for me to induce anv of
my college chums to put on the gloves
with me-
Science is all right" the conductor
said, land muscles good thing in q
scrap. but you'll find you'll need some
thing else if you try to handle that
fellow. He's not much more than half
as big as you are, but Well. you'll
get the worst of it. Here we are at
Wa-ka-ru-sa. I'll go in and see the
scrap.
The eaboose stopped at the platform
of the small station building, and We
alighted. AS we left the car L pulled
off my coat and threw it down on the
platform just outside the office door.
for I did not know what nature of
beast might confront me inside
AS pretty a young girl as ever laid
eyes on rose from a chair by the tele-
graph table as we entered, and greeted
the conductor with a pleasant good
morning" and a sunny smile She gave