Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1910-11-18

rW B HAT boy has not felt MS
N7kSN senses tingle as he heard
SaaNtM the click-click of a tele-
GS4"T graph key and watched
W W the operator In the local
station translate the mys-
FERROUS sounds into words and write
them on yellow pieces Of paper?
Maybe 1t is the unusualness OF 1t ALL
or maybe it is because the operator
Is getting from some far-away place
instantaneously the news of death
or an earthquake or some other por-
tentous happening before anybody else
in the community can possibly know
about 1t.
Anyhow, the boy-every boy, near
ly-kas wondered and longed about 1t,
and has a sneaking notion that he
would like to know what those audi
BILE dots and dashes mean. But how
to go about it and what it might lead
to is as far from his comprehension
as the cause Of the man in the moon.
All he knows Is that one of the big
ger boys got a job in the local sta
ton, or one of the younger ones as
messenger boy, and that after awhile
they knew how to work the key and
take messages, and then went away
somewhere.
You fathers, too, were once boys
yourselves, and you also were mystl-
fed and longed; but something lured
you into other kinds of life work.
Now, however, maybe you are won
,dering if your boy hadn't better take
I'D telegraphy as a business and be-
come president of the Western Union
or the Postal.
Well, it is possible for your young
ster to reach that high place; for
every one Of the past and present
officials In these companies, including
Colonel Robert c. Clowry, president of
the Western Union, and Edward j.
Nally, president of the Postal, was
once at the very bottom, as a messen-
ger boy. and each and every one OF
them worked right up through the
various lines to the top. The proba-
bility of getting there is not too
bright. however; for, you know, there
are only two presidents, and telegraph
company presidents have way OF
living for a long time even If some
thousands of ambitious young men
are anxious to take their places. Yet
it is possible, all the same, and your
boy may be the one to pick the Gov
eted plum.
Well, your boy is to start out as
telegraph messenger at fourteen OF
sixteen or whatever the age that the
state child labor law will let him &C
to work He applies at the nearest
office where messengers are EN-
ployed, and has little difficulty in get
ting a Job, because the requirements
are few, practically nothing more
than being able to read and write and
to move around spryly. Then he gets
his uniform and cap and goes to work
for ten hours day at 81 to So
week
Practically all his work at the star
is to deliver messages and run errands
for customers and the boss, but he
will find that inquiries about learning
telegraphy are encouraged, and tha
he will be given every opportunity tt
unravel its mysteries. Ambitious boy:
of that age are rare, you know, anC
when one comes along that is in earn
est he is given every opportunity tt
get on.
Before long, probably within TIVE
years at the most, your boy will have
acquired a pretty good general knowl
edge of the Morse code and how t.
send and receive messages. Then h
will find himself transferred from tn
messenger gang to the operating room
at an advance of about two dollars
week, where he will be occupied large
ly in gathering up messages and put
ting them into envelopes to be sen
out, and in transferring message
from among the various operatin!
y desks. That is, message is received
N New York from Chicago and has t
"a relayed to Boston, and he has t
se it to the operator at the Boston
e. In this way, he learns all abou
layout of the office-which wire
sed to communicate with variou
the wiring and districting O
puntry, etc.
en, probably by the time he
zen years old, he will be give
attached to a comparativel
~ used route and told that he
d-fiedged operator. His salar
will be about ten dollars q wee
The beginning. His advancement I
hly skilled operator at about 81
week will not take long, as 1t
merely the requirement of speed
which takes practise. Some youn
fellows of twenty are as rapid as me
of thirty-five or forty, and q man