The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1911-08-11
Il Telegraph
Joke
And Hoe 1t Turned
Out
By SCOTT KRAEMER -
By SCOTT KRdEMER
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1911.


tunity for young people of opposite sex
TO poke fun at each other than over
telephone or telegraph wire There
Is fascination In operating from be-
hind shield rendering one invisible.
y girl will delight to say things to
man who can't see her and doesn't
know who she is. / was a telegraph
operator when q young man, and
noticed this disposition in many a girl
operator with whom / talked over the
wire | am matter of fact sort of
fellow myself and doubt If 1t would
ever have occurred to me to bamboo.
2le girl in this fashion had not the
girl shown disposition to bamboozle
me-
She who first tried 1t was an oper-
ator at station about twenty miles
away from me. l was In the town of
NJ. while the girl was out at c.,
way station some twenty miles dis
tant in the country. She had more
time ON her hands than l, and sup
POSE this is what set her ON to quizzing
NE She started in one night about 8
O'Clock after having taken a message
from me. beginning by asking me
what was going on in town; how l
Liked NJ; If there was any fun going
Oh there and expressing her dislike at
being compelled to live in little way
station like G.. From this we fell to
Ii ling about ourselves and naturally,
AS persons OF opposite sex at that age
Invariably do. finally drifted on to love
and marriage. From love and mar
rlage in general we dropped into spe-
cialiies. at last narrowing the topic
down to ourselves.
The girl led me along in the channel
she said out herself till admitted
that. marriage being ii lottery, | would
about as lief marry girl had no
knowledge of as one had met and
loved All | required was to know
thai the girl | was to marry pos
st SSfd fair amount of good looks
Ohe thing he'd to another TIL ii was
arranged that she should mail me her
photograph and | should send her
mine. Then If we were mutually
pleased We might proceed further to-
ward forming an acquaintance with n
view To matrimony
The next day l looked over my
stot of photographs-not of myself,
hut my friends--and, selecting one of
Sam Atkins, the best looking fellow
III the lot sent 1t to the girl. Sam
WAS Off at the Spanish American war
ut the time. and trusted To- his get
ting shot o. ~ ing of disease so that
inI.,m NOT set into trouble by pass
Ing him Off for myself In return
received picture of rather pretty
girl. who | judged from her features
WAS full Of the Old Nick, the very
one 10 get UP just such complication
rs we were entering upon. On her
lips was an engaging smile and In her
eyes II very saucy look.
After that the wires began to warm
up with our conversations. till at last
they came to a white heat with love
passages. When we had fired a lot of
such missiles at each other we began
10 talk about meeting. At my pro-
posai to go to see her she cooled down
bit and 1t was easy to see that her
eXuberance was the result of fighting
behind Il masked battery. made sew
crai propositions to go to see her on q
certain day and hour, but for every
time set she gave some reason why
1t would be inconvenient or impossi-
bile for her to receive me. At last 1t
occurred to me to go up and look her
over without an appointment. Never
having seen me. she wouldn't know
me
So ore day, having secured leave,
l started to see my charmer. On ar
rival walked up into the village and
Oh the street met my girl. whom l
recognized at once by her photograph
| followed her into several shops and
finally to yellow house that stood
back from the street. She went into
the house, and having waited half an
hour for her to come out I concluded
she lived there.
/ knew man In the place, Tom
Foster. and. hunting him up, told him
that there was a girl in the town I
wished to know. He said there was
going to be dance that evening and
oil the girls In the place would be
there He would take me with him
and If he knew the girl wished to
meet he would introduce me.
thought that an excellent plan. since
II would give me the advantage of
keeping my affairs to myself. could
obtain an introduction to different
girls without my introducer knowing
the one was especially interested In.
That evening l went with Foster
to the hall where the dance was to
take place. He asked about the girl
wished to know and why l wished to
know her. and all that. but eyaded
his questions. | didn't propose to let
the girl herself know that / was the |
fellow she had been making love to
over the wire-at least till had learn
ed all about her.
She was there sure enough, looking |
as pretty as a picture-a brunette, with
a profusion of jet black hair, stately
figure and as mischievous an eye as
ever saw in a woman When l first ]
saw her she was talking with another |
girl about her own age. and that I
might not give myself away to Foster
! asked him to introduce me to the /
other girl.
She proved to be Miss Ellen Ormsby.
q staid young woman whom l found
rather hard to talk to. l asked her
who was the girl she was with when
was introduced to her, and she said
she was Agnes Miller and, taking the
hint, offered to introduce me. l ac-
cepted and was introduced.
l don't think l ever chuckled so In
my life as when found myself incog-
nito chatting with the girl whom
had been saying soft things to over
the wire. l made up my mind to staye
of the denouement as long as possible.
Not for the world would 1 give her
any clew to my identity by the slight
est reference to what had passed be-
tween us. And as to letting her know
even that / was a telegraph operator,