Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1911-08-12
II TsAegraph
Joke
And HoqO 1t Turned
out
By SCOTT KRAEMER -.
Copyright by American Press Assoc
citation. 1911 i1r
By SCOTT KRAEMER :


to poke fun at each other than over
telephone or telegraph wire, There
10 fascination in operating from be-
hind a shield rendering one invisible.
A girl will delight to say things to a
man who can't see her and doesn't
know who she is. I was a telegraph
operator when a young man, and
noticed this disposition in many girl
operator with whom I talked over the
wire. I am a matter of fact sort of
a fellow myself and doubt If 1t would
ever have occurred to me to bamboo.
zle girl in this fashion had not the
girl shown a disposition to bamboozle
me.
She who first tried Il was an oper-
ator at a station about twenty miles
away from me. I was in the town of
NJ. while the girl was out at G.. a
way station some twenty miles dis
tant in the country. She had more
time on her hands than /, and sup
pose this is what set her on to quizzing
me. She started in one night about
o'clock after having taken a message
from me, beginning by asking me
what was going on In town: how
liked NJ; II there was any fun going
on there and expressing her dislike at
being compelled to live in a little way
station like G. From this we fell to
talking about ourselves and naturally,
ms persons of opposite sex at that age
invariably do. finally drifted on to love
and marriage. From love and mar
rage In general we dropped into spe-
cialties, at last narrowing the topic
down to ourselves, -.-,--,.-,,A----.
The girl led me along in the channel
she laid out herself till I admitted
that marriage being lottery, would
about as lief marry a girl I had no
knowledge of as one / had met and
loved. All l required was to know
that the girl was to marry pos
sessed fair amount Of good looks
One thing led to another till 1t was
arranged that she should mail me her
photograph and 1 should send her
mine. Then If we were mutually
pleased we might proceed further to-
ward forming an acquaintance with a
view to matrimony. ~
The next day looked over my
stock of photographs-not of myself,
but my friends-and, selecting one of
Sam Atkins, the best looking fellow
in the lot, / sent It to the girl. Sam
was of at the Spanish American war
Mt the time, and trusted to his get
ting shot or dying of disease so that
i might not get into trouble by pass
ing him off for myself. In return l
received a picture of rather pretty
girl. who / judged from her features
was full of the Old Nick, the very
one to get up Just such complication
as we were entering upon. On her
lips was an engaging smile and In her
eyes a very saucy look.
After that the wires began to warm
up with our conversations, till at last
they came to white heat with love
passages. When we had fred lot of
such missiles at each other we began
to talk about meeting. At my pro-
posaI to go to see her she cooled down
a bit, and it was easy to see that her
exuberance was the result of fighting
behind masked battery. made sew
eral propositions to go to see her on
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 It
occurred to me to go up and look her
over without an appointment. Never
having seen me. she wouldn't know
me.
So one day, having secured leave.
i started to see my charmer. On ar
rival / walked up into the village and
on the street met my girl, whom l
recognized at once by her photograph.
/ followed her into several shops and
finally to a 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.
i knew a man in the place, Tom
Foster. and, hunting him up, told him
that there was girl In the town
wished to know. He said there was
going to be a dance that evening and
all the girls in the place would be
there. He would take me with him
and If he knew the girl I wished to
meet he would introduce me- l
thought that an excellent plan. since
1t 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 went with Foster
to the hall where the dance was to
take place. He asked about the girl
] wished to know and why ! wished to
know her, and all that, but evaded
his questions. didn't propose to let
the girl herself know that was the
fellow she had been making love 30
over the wire-at least till had learn
ed all about her.
She was there sure enough, looking
as pretty as a pictures brunette, with
n profusion of jet black hair. stately
figure and as mischievous an eye as
ever I saw In woman. When FIRST
saw her she was talking with another
girl about her own age. and that
might not give myself away to Foster
i asked him to introduce me to tho
Other girl.
She proved to be Miss Ellen ormsby.