The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-05-29
OVER THE
WIRE
A Telegraph Oper-
ator'S Story
BY WARREN MILLER


There is no more favorable oppor
tunity for young people of opposite SCI
to poke fun at each other than over {
telephone or telegraph wire. There Is {
fascination in operating from behind {
shield rendering one invisible. A CIR
will delight to say things to man who
can't see her and doesn't know who she
is. was telegraph operator when 9
young man, and l noticed this disposi
ton In many girl operator with whom
l talked over the WIRE / am q matter
of fact sort Of a fellow myself and
doubt If it would ever have occurred
to me to bamboozle a girl In this fash
ion had not the girl shown DISPOSE
ton to bamboozle me.
She who first tried 1t was an opera
tor at a station about twenty miles
away from me. l was in the town OF
NJ, while the girl was out at g., a way
station some twenty miles distant In
the country. She had more time on hel
hands than I, and suppose this Ii
what set her on to quizzing me. She
started in one night about 8 O'Clock
after having taken q message from me
beginning by asking me what was go
ing on in town; how I liked M, Il
there was any fun going on there and
expressing her dislike at being com.
PEELED to live in little way station
like G. From this we fell to talking
about ourselves and naturally, as per.
sons Of opposite sex at that age inva-
riably do, finally drifted on to love and
marriage. From love and marriage In
general we dropped into specialties, al
last narrowing the topic down to our.
selves.
The girl led me along in the channel
she laid out herself till l admitted that
marriage being a lottery, 1 would about
as lief marry a girl had no knowl.
edge Of as one had met and loved
All required was to know that the
girl was to marry possessed a fair
amount Of good looks. One thing led
to another till it was arranged that she
should mail me her photograph and
should send her mine. Then If we were
mutually pleased we might proceed
further toward forming an acquaint
ance with view to matrimony.
The next day looked over my stock
of photographs-not of myself, but OF
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 at the
time, and trusted to his getting shot
Or dying Of disease so that might not
get into trouble by passing him on for
myself. In return received a picture
Of rather pretty girl, who judged
from her features was full Of mis-
chief, the very one to get up just such
complication as we were entering
upon. Upon her lips was an engaging
smile and in her eyes a very saucy
looE.
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 fred a lot OF
such missiles at each other we began
to talk about meeting. At my pro-
posal to go to see her she cooled down
a bit, and 1t was easy to see that her
exuberance was the result Of fighting
behind masked battery I made sew
eral propositions to go to see her on a
certain day and hour, but for every
time / SET she gave some reason why
it would be inconvenient or impossible
for her to receive me. At last it oc-
CURED to me to go up and look her over
without an appointment. Never hav-
ing seen me, she wouldn't know me.
So one day, having secured leave,
started to see my charmer. On arrival
i walked up into the village and on the
street met my girl, whom recognized
at once by her photograph. 1 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, concluded she lived there.
knew a man in the place, Tom Eos.
ter, 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 / wished to meet he
would introduce me. l thought that
an excellent plan since 1t would give
me the advantage Of keeping my af-
fairs to myself. I could obtain an in
PRODUCTION 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 wish
ed to know and why wished to know
her and all that, but evaded his Ques-
tons. I 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 learned 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 / first
saw her she was talking with another
girl about her own age, and that
might not give myself away to Foster
! asked him to introduce me to the
other girl.
She proved to be Miss Ellen Ormsby,
a staid young woman whom found
rather hard to talk to. 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. accepted
and was introduced.
/ don't think I ever chuckled 80 In
my life as when found myself incog-
nito chatting with the girl whom had
been saying soft things to over the
wire. 1 made up my mind to stave OF
the denouement as long as possible.
Not for the world would give her any
clew to my identity by the slightest
reference to what had passed between
us. And as to letting her know even
that was a telegraph operator, moth
ing would tempt me to risk giving
away the whole thing by doing SO.
l danced several times with Agnes
Miller and once with her friend Ellen
Ormsby. / concluded to go slow with
Miss Miller, but l got in a number Of
compliments and several looks indicat-
ing my admiration for her. When 1
left her to catch my train, which did
before the dance had ended, pressed
her hand and received slight pressure
In return.
Very soon after this 1 received a
shock at the return of Sam Atkins.
The Spanish war was over, and Sam
had come home in excellent health and
handsome as ever. What disconnected
me was that in some way-I having
sent my girl his photographic might
GnOiI my FIN put on conond fhouOht