Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1905-10-05
OVER THE WIRE.

When Jim Lee, the village carpen-
ter and widower, died people felt
sorry for his daughter Molly and Won
dered how she would get along. They
did more, for wonder. A number
of them so interested themselves that
she was made telephone operator at
Sandsvllle with good weekly salary.
She made her home with a neighbor,
and things went on very well with
her.
Molly Lee was girl of 20, and if
she hadn't married before her father 8
death it was not because of the lack Of
opportunity. Why she didn't was
her own affair. Why she attended
strictly to business afterward and had
no beaux was also her own affair, but
the villagers winked and nodded to
each other and said it would come
around by and by.
At Stapleton, % miles away, James
Williams opened a store about the
time Mr.. Lee died. He had much
telephonlng to do in various direc-
tions, and he called up Sandsville at
least once a day. When he heard
the new voice over the telephone he
liked the sound of it. The more he
heard of it the better he liked IT..
As he was a bachelor, and as he
was charged with having an eye open
for a wife, it would not have been
strange had he written to friend at
Sandsville to introduce him to that
girl with sweet voice in the tele'
phone Office, but he did nothing Of the
kind. He could have stepped abroad
any day and gone and seen for him
self, but he did not do that.
Bachelors have their romances as
well as young men and maidens. he
built up romance around the Hello"
voice, and after few weeks he would
have wanted to knock any man down
who destroyed it for him. When
there was no business on the Sands
vile line to call for his opening the
telephone he made excuses to do go
He felt be must hear that voice at
least once a day, and when he found
his romance growing he smiled to him.
self.
By and by the messages over the
wire were not strictly confined to bus
mess, according to regulations. The
bachelor opened conversations on gen.
eral subjects, and as he was paying
the price exacted by the schedule of
rates the girl could hardly snap him
off the line. He never asked her
name, but he betrayed an interest
that brought the blush to her cheek
as she carelessly responded: "Yes,
81 see" "I guess so, Indeed"
Sometimes he left his telephone
open and sang. 1t was always sem
timental song, and the girl at the
other end of the line knew that the
words were meant for her. At first,
when addressing her he had called
for "Girly." She was going to re-
prove him but he was in hurry and
she put it off. The reproof never
reached him, although he was consid-
cred an impudsnt fellow to keep on
making use of the term.
For year the bachelor hugged his
romance to his soul. Then he made
up his mind to look for something
more material. He put on his Sun
day suit one day and went down to
Sandsville. Anyone on the street
Would have told him that Miss Molly
Lee was in charge of the telephone
Office. and probably would have added
that she was the best-looking girl in
town, but he asked no questions-not
even where the Office was. he strolled
around until he found it for himself,
and he kept saying as be strolled;
Jimmy Williams, you are making
an idiot ofyourself. Of course, 'Girly'
is an old maid and homely as hedge
fence, and you will get snapped up in
great shape for your cheek. Better
go back and keep your illusion.
But he entered the telephone Office
instead, and the first glance at the
woman behind the desk sent his heart
down into his boots. Just az be had
feared, she was an old maid. She was
an old maid who was having trouble
with soft corn that day, and a man
who suffered had just left the Office
vainly seeking to send message, and
she did not like the way the man
from Stapleton looked at her.