Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-01

dozen of the inmates were at work
hoeing corn. We watched them rather
curiouSly at first, but their actions
seemed perfectly rational so we eradu-
ally lost interest. Suddenly there was
the most war-whoop yell you ever
heard. Every man-jack of US jumped
to his feet. Across the cornfield. waving
their arms and brandishing their iInple-
ments and shouting like demons. came
the whole pack of the insane. each one
of them a most terrifying Man With
the Hoe They charged upon us in
platoons. with their keeper far in the
rear. Did we wait? Not bit of it. 1u-
tuitively, 1 suppose. we all made for
the two lone telegraph poles we had
just erected. There was a regular light
for first up. Spurs bit deep into the
wood and one man assembled on the
next mans heels. tt must surely have
been a comical sight to see those two
poles fairly alive with clinginS. fright
ened men and the lunatfcS dancing
around us and holding high carnival.
And to make matters worse, tney
climbed into our wagon, grabbed arm
fuls of the glass insulators used on the
croSsbarS to hold the wires and played
knock down three ba bles-and.you-eet-
a-half dozen cigars with us. Those in
sulatorS weigh a pound or SO apiece.
and those lunatics may have been crazy.
but there was nothing the matter WITH
their pitching arms. We carried bruises
on our bodies for weeks afterward. OF
course, the keepers finally corralled
them. But we stayed up those poles
until the last sportive victim OF de-
mentia Americana had disappeared.
x
ct went out with a gang to plant few
poles in a truly fural district in south
ern Maryland one bright, sunny day,
said a telephone man, land began the
usual course of procedure on the prop
erty of an old woman. She was armed
with her order from the company for 81
for the usual square foot of her land on
which the pole was to be placed We
started to dig She pulled out her tape
measure and measured the incision in
the land 1t was about six inches over
a foot. We explained to her that the
dirt would be put back and only foot
of her land used for the pole. Then we
made the three other jabs with the spade
TO complete the square foot. Whew. She
was on us like vulture. What were we
doing?' She had only sold one foot and
here we were digging three extra ones.
The boss tried to explain to her what
square foot meant, but she couldn't under
sta nd No. stree! robbers! thevesn She
had only sold a foot. The foreman took
her aside to ask her how in the name OF
all that's holy could he put sixty-foot
telephone pole in hole a linear foot
in dimension and gave us the wink. When
the poor old lady finished her scathing
TRADE we had a nice hole aug q s3c.
square and five feet deep. We jammed the
pole in double-qufck, l can tell you. Then
she insisted on So more for the feet on the
surface and almost took our breath away
by asking S. more for the depth of the
hole. We told her to make her coma
plant to the proper authorities of the
company and left her hacking away at
the poor telephone pole. foot or so in
diameter, with her carving knife.
"Men who are held in readiness for
breaks and leaks, etc. in the feed cables"
said an electric construction man, ARE
called trouble men,, and they certainly
are appropriately named. All sorts of
queer and unreasonable walls. come into
us from subscribers. One evening last
summer some lady in the northwest por-
ton Of the city made complaint. over
the phone in that chilly, touch- me-not
voice usually considered SO effective in
dealing with mere servants of large COR
porations.
Its outrageous. she exclaimed. here
pay your exorbitant rates for light and
the service is getting worse every day.
want you to send man up right s1Fay
to do something to keep these hofrid,
black bugs from flying around my lights!
Right away, do you understand" -