Year: 1877

Noulu nave btleBfdpHtu.


Are you an operator 20


g Yes, sir


Have you an Instrument"


e'No'


''Then what good would it have done
to have called you-you can't telegraph
without an instrument" ?"


Yes / can,'' said the ambitious
Anson "and if the officers of the road
are willing, I'll make the attempt"


1t should be remarked here that the
directors car, well filled with dignitaries
of the road, was attached to the train
These were exceeding anxious to reach
Pittsburgh to attend an important meet
ing, and the delay was considerably an
noying to them. Although incredulous
to the last degree, they gave the word to
ego ahead" and all of them stood
by''in the bitter cold to witness the ex-
pertinent.


Detaching several car lengths Of the
conductors bell rope, our operator
threw it over the telegraph wire and
broke it as near as possible in the mid
die between two poles. Having succeed
ed in this enterprise he was a little cha
grined to find that the wire was not
charged. Nothing daunted, the SAN
guine Anson tackled another wire, and
the only other one there was. This
proved to be we'll charged and prepared
to act responsive to his desires. He pre-
pared to "make both ends meet" in
more than a metaphorical sense. Sc
curing all the slack he could he brought
the two ends together, and, by expert
touches, succeeded in calling the nearest
office. He then sent brief message
calling fresh locomotive to their aid
The operator felt siderableconfidence
that his message had been properly
transmitted and received, but he wanted
to be fully satisfied, and how to receive
message in return was the problem.


The sense of hearing, on which the
! operator had been accustomed to rely,
failing him for want of an instrument,it
was necessary to call some other sense
or faculty into requisition and hence he
decided on that of feeling or touch, and
concluding that the tongue was the most
sensitive to electricity of all parts of the
human body, he accordingly applied the
wire thereto. But this was not enough.
| Ground connection had to be establish
| ed. However, even this want was over
come. The railroad track was made to
do duty, and did its work remarkably
well, though it was cold comfort for
our operator to hold fast to the rail in
the nipping frost with the bare hand
But he made his circuit and as he held
the end of the wire to his tongue he
soon felt the shocks, and was thus ena-
bled, through actual impression, to read
what the operator nine miles away was
putting on the wire.


Meanwhile the conductor was trudg-
ing his way along, but before he had
gone half the distance to the station he
was met by locomotive hurrying to
the rescue. He was utterly confounded
and not little terrified to see the monster
booming along, and made frantic eff
sort to bring it to halt, placing him
self directly in the track and swinging his
arms for dear life. He succeeded in at
tracting the engineers attention, and as
soon as he came within speaking dis
tance he wanted to know &C what he was
doing on the track on his time ~


I" Been called" was the answer.


Who called you ~


l." Been telegraphed for by broken
down train some five miles below here.
The superintendent sent the order.n
The conductor now found himself in
a regular fog, but got on the locomotive
and when he reached the train he lost
no time in seeking light.


HaT A tutor of one of the Oxford col
leges who limped in his walk was some
years after accosted by Il well known
politician, who asked him If he was not
the chaplain of the college ut such a
time, naming the year. The doctor re-
piled that he was. The interrogation
observed, II knew you by your limp"
''Well," (" said the doctor, sit seems my
limping made deeper impression than
my preaching ''Ah, doctor,n was the