The Young Train Dispatcher

ual. This was due, perhaps, to his mixed ancestry, for his father, a volatile Irishman, had married a phlegmatic German woman, proprietress of a railroad boarding-house, where Mickey found a sa

etween the chronic high spirits of his father and the chronic low ones of

oles as agile as a monkey and dancing out along the wires in a way that earned him more than one thrashing from his boss. Advancing years had tempered this foolhardiness, but had only served to accentuate the eccentric side

do without him, for Tom Mickey was the best lineman in the middle west. The tangle of wires which were an integral part of the system was to him an open book, to be read at a glance. Was any wire in trouble, he would mount his tricycle,

th Allan. Perhaps it is only right to say that this was not wholly luck, for Jim had reconnoitred thoroughly beforehand,

h wire and insulators, preparatory to a tri

near the two bridges, to his, just back of the yards here, and we were wondering if you would let us string our wire on the co

had not heard. He was puffing vigorously at a short clay pipe, and with a certain vic

ame is?” Mickey asked, after what

an W

that Jack Welsh

orked in Welsh’s section-gang last ye

aid Mickey, and

36

anded at last, “that he want

ter’s office,” Jim explained. “

tricycle was loaded and he pushed it out on the main line, ready for his trip. Jim followed him anxiously. He watched Mickey take his seat on the

re ye in such a hurry about? Do ye see that wire u

llowing the direction

in’ t’ take it down afore long. Ye kin use it, if ye want to, t

im, his face beaming. “That will be

rt nod, bent to the lever, and rattled

n eye out for Allan, who, he knew, would be coming through before long in search of the master-mechanic. Allan, you may be sure, did not negle

ur house from the pole just in front of it, and then run another acros

t for a month, an

want to seem to be too tender-hearted. He’ll never touch the wire as long as we’re us

reed Allan, and

s and sounders were tested and found to be in good shape. Three evenings later, one of the instruments was clicking on the table in Allan’s r

rs’ office, had ample opportunity to observe how the system worked, and each of the boys copied

Thus, a dot followed by a dash represents the letter a; a dash followed by three dots represents the letter b, while two dots, space, dot, represents the letter c, and so through the alphabet, which, accor

en an operator desires to send the letter a, he depresses his key for a short interval, then releases it, and, after an interval equally brief, depresses it again, holding it down three times as l

me familiar were - .... . and .- -. -.., representing respectively “the” and “and.” Following this, came the curious combination of sounds, ..—.., which represents the period, one of the most difficult the learner has to master. Other combinations followed, until most of the shorter words b

culty in following them. Train-dispatchers, it may be said in passing, ? 40 ? have no time to waste; their messages are terse and to the point, and are sent like a flash. And woe to the operator who has to break in with the . .. . .. which means “repeat!” The dispatchers themselves, of course, are capable of taking the hottest ball or the wildest that ever came over the wires. Indeed

e on duty at three o’clock in the afternoon, just when the rush of business is heaviest. The induction of a new dispatcher is something of a ceremony, for the welfare of the road rests in his hands for eight hours of every day, and ev

ignal, .. .., which showed that he was ready to receive the message. Then, as the message started in a sputter which evidenced the excited haste of the man who was sending it, he turned away, took off his coat, and hung it up, deliberately removed

d that worthy, with assumed indifference, and

ther of these officials would tolerate any “fooling,” when the welfare of the road was in question. But at last the newcomer was in his seat again. He reached forward and opened his key, and every one waited for the . .. . .., which would ask tha

got out a match and lighted h

ges simultaneously. But these were merely the trimmings of the profession. They savoure

n would write it out, as his sounder clicked along, and compare his copy with the original, to detect any errors. At first, errors were the rule; but as time went on, they became more and more infrequent;

ood,” he clicked out. “Let’s

d. “This line hasn’t don

could he have foreseen the events of th