The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-07-14
THE JUNIORS CODE,
az VHoMAs q. EcKl e

BY THOMAS O. EcKLEs.
Icopyrlght 1909. by American Press Asso-
ciation.l
There are cases Of individual stu
pidity and there are combinations Of
stupidity. 1t has been my fate to suf-
fer from one Of these combinations.
In my case It consisted Of a man in
love and a small boy who hadn't any
sense.
Mr.. Perkins, the junior member Of
the firm where was confidential
clerk, was the man 10 love. His
fancee lived in an interior town, and
he was continually neglecting the
business to 20 and see her or in de-
voting himself to her when she came
to town. lie was obliged to 90 abroad
on business, and before going he called
me into his private office and said.
Frank, I'm going to take you into
my confidence. ] am engaged to be
married, as you probably know, to the
loveliest girl in the universe. She Is
Miss 0ctavia Allerton and lives at
B. shall wish to cable her occa-
sionally and have made q code, OF
which she has the key. Now, don't
wish these kilograms to be inspected
by the whole Office force. so / shall adj
dress them to you. As soon as you
receive one of them take 1t to the tele-
graph office and send 1t to Miss Alier-
ton. Now, be very careful and say
nothing to anybody, and II you follow
orders and handle the dispatches as in.
structed / viii see that you are well
paid for your trouble
l promised to attend to the matter
and when left him be felt assured
that he could send messages to hts
fiancee safely and with secrecy. While
he was on the ocean / received a
wireless message every few days. and
they continued at intervals when be
got on land ! took them all to the
telegraph Office and forwarded them.
There was an interval Of five days
during which none came, and then !
received one just as ! was leaving the
Office IN the evening to 60 TO keep an
engagement Of importance to myself
in a suburban town. Having just time
to catch the train, | called Joe, an Of
fee boy, gave him the message with
the proper address and told him to take
it to the telegraph Office BE very
careful" ! said, TO see that It goes
all right If il doesn't. my head will
come or
There's such a thing a. squirting peo-
pie 70 overdo things. put too much
caution into Joe. n I had said moth
ing to him be would have handed the
telegram In without looking at it and
nothing would have happened. AS II
was. while going to the telegraph Of
fee he took It out OF the envelope and
read It:
Notary, Alternative.
Not knowing that it was a cipher
telegram, he at once assumed that
there was something wrong in 1t. since
Notary, alternative meant nothing
as It stood. He ran back to find me.
but had gone. He set out again for
the telegraph Office. trying on the way
to make sure Of the message. He had
heard Of blunders OF operators In re-
eerding messages and concluded this
was one Of them. He put a number Of
words in place OF notary IN order to
make a proper reading and finally hit \
on the word another" Another al. I
tentative meant something. Before
the telegraph office he had
written another" IN place Of notary"
The next day cabiegram came from
Mr.. Perkins that be would return I'm
mediately. He reached America with
III a week, bat went straight 10 bis
fancee The next day be appeared al
the Office. He glared at me as he
passed me- and. going into his private
room, he sent for me. saw a check
laying On his desk before him, II
looked ominous. He handed it to me
and said
Here is your salary, paid to the end
Of the month. We shall not need your
services any longer
OF course ! asked the cause Of my
II sent you cablegram from Par
Isl he said. at read, Notary. alterna-
tive" He handed me a copy or the
cipher code, the word notary under.
lined. It read:
I am very lonely without you.
Then be told me to turn to the word
alternative" and ! saw that It meant
love" Tile whole message read
I'm very lonely without you. love,
Meanwhile he was scratching some
thing on a piece Of paper When /
had read the Interpretation Of his
he said, would You like to
know how that message read when II
was received by Miss AllertonY' / re-
Piled that I would, and he handed me
what he had written:
/ have found another love-
/ explained to him how the blunder
occurred, but my excuses made no i'm
preston on him. Turning to bis desk,
he indicated that the interview was
ended
Going out, | met the head Of the
irm. I'm sorry for you, Carter" he
aid. * did all could for you but
allied. / couldn't refuse to consent to
vour dismissal. Indeed, 1t Is best that
you shouldn't have to meet him every
lay. That telegram lost him his girl.