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

SOUtn station.
Kate was delighted at my telegraphc
lore. and wished to learn it at once.
You told me you didn't know any
thing to teach me-" she said. "Iou
might have been teaching me the
Morse alphabet. DO it now"
"Why, what good will it do You,
child? learned telcgraphy 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. 81 should be glad If l
could do as much with anything | had
learned Why. you could call every
single man in the works with a two
letter combination. couldn't you?"
II suppose so," said, absently. "See
here. Kate, believe could teach you
telegraphy down here. after all. |
have a little instrument at home, and
Mr. Dale could fix us up a battery II
Mr. Storer Is willing. He has every
thing in the laboratory. Well 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 superin-
tended the construction of the battery
with the llvelest 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 it? All right?"
And to our calculations he said. with
a twinkle in his eyes as he hurried off
to some construction work, 81 was
stranded down in Mexico once. and had
to work my way home. l tried tele-
graphing
Did you ever see such n cosmopo-
lite?" 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. in
| uI every -'Adl NbI'N. anu N'hA pli yum
ing Shall | know half as much when
| I'm his age?'
you will if your present thirst for
knowledge holds good" / laughed.
We'll. 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
| ticewOrk 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
cstly 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, motion
less. The paymaster was late,
thought. as | looked at the clock. Sud
denly l became aware. through the
monotonous click of Kates typewriter
of sort of repetition in the sound
My ear, trained to the spacings of the
telegraph alphabet, spelled out over
and over the word, ELLA. Ella"'-my
own name.
looked out with n smile. about tC
make some amused comment on Kate''
discovery that the typewriter key
made an excellent substitute for thu
key of telegraph sounder.
But something strained and unusua
In her look and the palIor of her usu
ally rosy face deferred me.
Don't speak"' the key went on
Tool; away"
I did So much wondering. and will
my heart beginning to beat uncomfort
ably fast
"a man has come up stairs ant
crawled into the laboratory" went OF
the improvised key, slowly spelling on
the words. 'He thinks / don't se'
him"
Like n fash the situation dawne(
upon me. The works stood on th'
dark. deserted outskirts of the city
and the paymaster. who drove down II
little light buggy, always brought ;
second man and revolver with him
TO guard against hlghwaymen. TIL,
works were generally well watched
: within. What adverse fate was ii tha
: had emptied the Office building TO
night?
What should doy If there was on
: man already up stairs. OF course ther
was another one somewhere-perhap
two or three others.
! I rose. humming a careless song. put
ting into II, am sure. n most artist
, tremolo without the slightest effort.
3 ~ think I'll finish my tabulating o
the other machlne" called out
!, Kate, and whipped the cover on
: long carriage typewriter that stood b