Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-04


realize what there is in this dot
and dash business" said the old
telegrspher, as he knocked of work for
the day in his substation. and filed and
lit his pipe with slow elaboration. You
go into the operating room at the COM
pany's main Office. and you hear the fell
lows talking what you might think was
Esperanto. IL you didn't know that lingo.
and the chances are you don't You hear
them speaking of 'megohms' and micro
farads' and 'milliamperes' and such mys-
ferrous things. You see one burst out
laughing. all of a sudden. for no reason
whatever. and you might fancy that he
had gone crazy in a hurry. Yes. We
telegraphese,' a sort of Esperanto, as
matter of fact. for IL Is universal
tongue, spoken through the finger tips
and in most cases read by ear.
You can read the characters of teleg
Japner thousand miles away by means
of his Morse. which is the name by
which the language goes in the profesh.
] had almost said you could tell the color
of his hair. and its a sure thing that
you can occasionally.
sA
An operators Morse Is as distinctive
as his face. his tones or his handwriting,
and It's as difficult to counterfeit as his
voice or his writing. During the civil
war. and, indeed. for some years after
ward. l was in the employment of the
War Department. and IL was in that
service that / and others came 10 use the
important facts / have mentioned to
some advantage. A Confederate. for ex-
ample. would encounter on the line OF
march line of wire which he suspected
Of being used by the enemy. He tapped
the wire, cut in his instruments and
listened. He found his surmise was cor
rect. he ground of or the other
end. and, trying TO disguise his style OF
sending" made inquiries calculated TO
develop important informotion. But the
southern accent Is recognized in his
Morse by the distant manipulation. who.
indeed. may have been a co-worker in
witted plotter got only some jollying
from the other end. This trick won't
work. Jack wires back the Union opera
tor Let's shake for the sake of old
times. and then YOU git out of this
In the dot and dash business a teleg-
rapher Is known by his .sign-it may be
the letter X or . or &. Now. there is
surely nothing in a mere letter, let alone
name. to warm up TO or the reverse.
and yet after a day or two of this wire
acquaintance with a man whom one has
never seen, and whose name one does
not know-a conversation. mind you. not
Of your own. but of exchanging other
peoples telegrams-one gets an impress
sion OF the other fellows personality as
distinct as IL you were looking at and
talking with him. You begin 10 feel
friendly toward him or you begin to
dislike him. And so II goes on all along
the wires. The KS and VS. and as be-
gin 10 stand for actual people. and you
recognize their first few clicks over the
wire. i knew an operator that went in
sane. and the only way they could pac-
fy him at the Sanitarium was to have a
telegraph instrument rugged UP, of course
without any communicating wires. Well,
sir. that man had lots of fun fancying
he was getting messages all the time
from all sorts of people and sources
natural and supernatural Kings and en-
perors and such were he thought, con-
tinually sending him messages, and, of
course, he politely wired back.
4 4
IF you want TO represent a laugh in
print. You have to be content with a
bald 'ha. ha.' with. perhaps. some other
words 10 describe its nature, as Jolly, or
idiotic. or fiendish. or what not In wire
talk the same form is used. but the man.
ner In which II is rendered is made TO
impart its quality. In dot-and dash con-
verse. as in speech, .ha. ha, may give
an impression OF mirthlessness, of mild
amusement. or OF convulsion. !. Then
again, the double 4 has, In wire par
lance, wide range of meaning accord
Ing 10 the way 1t is sent. A few double
is are used as prelude 10 a CONVERSE
ton. as well as to break the abruptness
In ending IL. They are also made 10 sig
nify doubt or acquiescence. and, in any
hesitation for word or phrase, are used
70 preserve the continuity OF a divided
sentence. When an order is given in
Morse over the wire, the Acknowledgement
OF the operator is a ringing IA which
has the same significance as the aye
aye. sir, OF the sailor.
IT'S my impression, founded on the
experience fhat
would be distinctly deficient in observa-
ton who. after working a wire with a
stranger at the other end for week
could not give an idea OF his co-worker's
character and disposition, and the con-
ception thus formed should prove TO be
far from being an erroneous one l don't
claim 10 possess more imagination than
my neighbors, but have usually been
eoie 10 build up, IN even less than a
week. fairly accurate mental image of
my distant Wis Wis. could fancy
whether he ate with his knife, or wore
fancy socks. or whether his manner was
aggressive or retiring.
-
I was assigned some years ago TO q
somewhat removed station on the south
ern coast. which had the terminus of its
circuit In this city. My fellow-operatar
~ the other end OF the wire used the
letters B. F. for his wire signature. b.
F.'s Morse was so clear, even and rhyth-
mic, his dots and dashes SO perfectly
timed and accurately spaced, that / at
once conceived high liking and respect
for him. And, moreover, / was aware in
q short time, that this friendly feeling
was reciprocated. Indeed, b. F. and |
soon became great friends. and that
alphabetic personalities wire touch, so
distinct and rational, became an actual
relief in the course Of a strenuous day.
Indeed. every day for months l received
from him without perceptible fatigue, or
the necessity OF breaking Almost from
the beginning Of our mountaineering 1
fancied that ] should recognize him al
sight II ] happened to meet him. 1 pic
tured him a tall. frail man, with a quiet
and composed deneanor. His very dress
was before me. and I could have almost
sworn TO the old-fashioned collar. the
small white tie, and the respectable but
somewhat worn long black coat.
Morse. like regular language. has its
slang The operator gets lots OF fun
out Of this slang. which consists largely
, 3n closely Joining elements which ought
10 be spaced. or in separating others
that are meant 10 be close-coupied
In this wire slang pot means hot
: root' Is rendered fool L. S. Navy is
us nasty home is changed TO hog
and 30 on. II. for example, while re-
.ceivfng a telegram. a user Of the slang
should miss a word and say TO you.
:-6naz fnme a.. the expert would know
!. that he meant Please fill me in But
!. there IS no difficulty about the inter