The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-10-12

4 SOutn station.
Kate was delighted at my telegraphlc
lore. and wished to learn it at once.
"You told me you didn't know any
thing to teach me-" she said. you
might have been teaching me the
Morse alphabet. DO It now"
"Why. what good will it do you,
child? | learned tclcgraphy nine years
ago. and then took up bookkeeping,
and never put it to one cents worth of
practical use till this very day"
"And isn't that quite enough?" re-
Joined Kate Il should be glad If l
could do as much with anything had
learned. Why, you could call every
single man in the works with n two
letter combination. couldn't you?"
II suppose So" said, absently. "See
here, Kate, | believe 1 could teach you
telegraphy down here. after all. |
| have a little instrument at home. and
Mr.. Dale could fix us up a battery if
Mr.. Storer is willing. He has every
thing in the laboratory. Wen ask
| him.
Mr.. Storer. on application, proved
perfectly willing. He knew almost
everything himself it seemed to me,
and he appreciated the desire of other
people to learn things. He superln-
tended the construction of the battery
with the llvellest interest. and then as
| tonished me beyond measure by sitting
down to the keyboard when it got into
running order and clicking off nonchal-
anly on the sounder.
"Well. how is 1t: All rlght?"
And to our calculations he said. with
n twinkle in his eyes as he hurried off
to some construction work. Il was
| stranded down in Mexico once. and had
to work my way home. l tried tele-
graphing"
Did you ever see such a cosmopo-
llte:" asked Kate, as he hurried away.
Austria, Russia. China. California and
now Mexico. The other day, in that
consultation. you know, the New York
man said. Where did you get that idea
of the roof arch? That seems an eX-
cellent thing 'Oh. that's little point
l got in Hungary said Mr.. Storer. III
an everyday voice, and went on talk
ing. Shall | know half as much when
| I'm his age?"
You will if your present thirst for
knowledge holds good" l laughed.
well. now, get your chair. and I'll
teach you the alphabet by sound. Oh,
what fun this is,''
We certainly did have good times at
the south station.
One winter evening - it was pay
night. and Mr.. Storer had gone up
town with the pay roll-we sat at
work. Kate in the outer office. which
was separated by wrought iron lat
ticcwork from the inner one, where
was busy strengthening out the books
for the last month.
The chemists were in the works. get
| ting bottlefuls of nauseating gas stuffs
| for analysis; the craftsmen and assist
ant engineers had strayed afar, bound
on various errands. We had the up
| per floor quite to ourselves.
1t was a cold night and growing
dark. Down below, at the office en-
trance, | could see, even through the
| dark the white linen cuffs and hoods
that cleaned against the sombre at
| tire Of two Catholic sisters. 1t was
| their custom to appear promptly at the
works on pay nights, and to stand mod
eStly and silently. with downcast eyes,
| at the gates. TO receive offerings from
the workmen as they passed out in
| line. opening their yellow pay envel-
Opes.
1t was cold and growing colder, but
| the sisters stood there patient, notion
less. The paymaster was late,
thought. as looked at the clock. Sud
denly | became aware, through the
monotOnous click of Kate's typewriter,
Of sort of repetition in the sound.
My ear. trained to the spaclngs of the
telegraph alphabet, spelled out over
and over the word. "Ella Ellar'-mS
own name.
looked out with a smile about TO
make some amused comment on Kate's
discovery that the typewriter key
made an excellent substitute for the
key of telegraph sounder.
| But something strained and unusual
in her look and the pallor of her usu-
ally rosy face deferred me.
Don't speak" the key went on.
Look awayw
did so. much wondering. and with
my heart beginning to beat uncomfort-
ably fast.
| "a man has come up stairs and
crawled into the laboratory" went on
the improvlsed key. slowly spelling out
the words. "He thinks | don't see
him."
Like fash the situation dawned
upon me. The works stood on the
dark. deserted outskirts of the city.
and the paymastcr. who drove down in
little light buggy. always brought a
second man and revolver with him,
to guard against highwaymen. The
works were generally well watched
within. What adverse fate was II that
had emptled the office building to-
night?
What should doi IL there was one
man already up stairs, OF course there
was another one somewhere-perhaps
two or three others.
rose. hummlng careless song. put
ting into II. l am sure. a most artistic
tremolo without the slightest effort.
IL think I'll finish my tabulating OF
the other machlnew l called out Il
Kate, and whipped the cover of I
long carriage typewriter that stood b,
4.