The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1909-07-06
THE TELEPHONE AS
AN INTERPRETER
Hy r. 4. mitchell.

AV@ AVOA az IA you mum T. any
hing unpleasant happenedY
Il don't exactly-you see-they tell
me there's certain ne In mans
life when be doesn't know whether he's
done very big thing or a very little
one"
Haven't got into trouble on account
cf one Of your practical jokes. have
goue'
TITS something like that Come here
and sit down. III tell you"
They had met in q city park. Sim
mons led the way to bench. They
pepted themselves. and be began his
kale Of woe.
when was in Paris, at the pension
Bwhere l stopped-they call 'em pen
sions over there; we call 'em boarding
or hash houses here--was a French
girl. l took a kind Of shine to her,
nnd fanoied she took kind OF shine
10 me, but neither Of US could speak a
word of the same language. met
Turpin ever there. Remember Turpinl
Red headed chap with big mole on bis
ieft cheek. He and played jokes on
each other. One day told a gendarme
70 watch him for suspicious charac-
Ger and had lot Of fun out of it,
"oh, you did. did youY'
"Yes. Well, the girl was telling
you about--it was 3 tantaiizing bust
Ress. sitting along side OF her without
being able to say anything to her. so
! wrote out some things such as I'm
sorry can't talk to you and WIN
you walk with me this afternoon in
the Bots de BoulogneY and all that
Then asked Turpin-Turpin speaks
French tolerabiy well. you know-to
write out the French for these sen
fences. He did so, and 1t helped things
along amazingly with the girl. Tur-
pin told me that Good morning in
French was 'Toi que Jaime or some
thing like that, and noticed that she
blushed every time I said it."
'Do you know what sToi que j'aime'
meansY'
Yes; good morning. OF course"
"Ratsi 1t means i love you"
Simmons stood paralyzed with sur
prise for a moment and then went on
II learned from people In the house
that the girls father had been well
or, but he had lost oil his property
and then up and died, leaving his
daughter with little or nothing. / felt
sorry for her, and-well, expect I
looked it. at any rate when April
same. and I started for Rome / saw a
tear in her eye. Il made me uneasy,
Cor wasn't thinking about getting
mixed up ia any affair, especially with
a girl couldn't talk to, but when I
rot on the train / forgot all about ii
Eupposing the girl would do the same.
Turpin and / went down to Rome TO-
gether, and he didn't seem to think
80 done anything out OF the way, and
khls satisfied me.
sOneA5ay, month later, while walk
fng dowh via Cavour-thats Cavour
street you snow-in Rome. who should
meet but M French girl. and what
DO you suppose she was doingY
sWhat7
aGrying. sho was SO distressed
about something that she didn't see
me. spoke to her, and you should
have seen the relief light up her face.
.aThe only thing ] could remember
20 saw to her in French was Good
morning, SO said 'Toi que Jaime she
burst into a fresh crying spell ] was
diving 10 know why she was IN Rome
and what was the matter, but how coulc
since she could only jahber French
at me? Then happy thought struck
me Turpin could act as interpreter
or course couldn't take her to Tur'
pin, but / might get him on tele
phone and he could tell each Of us
what the other said. Good idea, chr
Every"
II stepped into a place where there
was 4 stelefono' sign and succeeded II
getting Turpin just as he was starting
ont to visit the Roman aqueduct ruins
i fold him what had happened; Their
the girl told him her situationi Their
look the receiver and he translated
fhe story to me. she'd answered an ad
Of a Roman family for a goyerness t
teach the children French and has
heen sent for to come to Rome Sht
was DELAYED for want Of funds. anc
when at last she arrived found th'
gamiIv had been called suddenly t
Berlin. Well, she was in q pickle.
II telephoned Turpin to tell her thai
begged she would accept funds from
me- 10 return to Paris. Turpin tole
her she dropped the receiver on
table and her head on my shoulder
r,hen she took my arm and the mex
tbtnr knew we were In one Of thos'
measly thousand -year-old churehe
over there. The girl jabbered French
~ ! prIest. which he seemed to under
stand. and a little English, too, Tor n
told me chat to be married must &
through the proper forms.
ut was that rascally Turpin. He's
told her that asked her to marry M
ana 70 to America with me-"
..What did you dor
.swhat could I do2 Go back on
thing ike that? We were marrie'
and here am" !.
eWelI old man, I'll call on your VII
sonieht. and after I've seen her an'
talked with he4-I speak some Frenel
myself, you know-I'll tell you whethe
Turpin has done you good or an evi
furn"
The promise was kept and, after To
cali "a the doorstep the friend said:
sIts a horse on Turpin; he shoul'
have got your wife for himself You Y