Courting By Wire

A telegraph operator in a Boston office once met with bitter disappointment early in his career by falling in love with a young wornan at the other end of one of the oíd Western Union wires. She nsed to say sweet little nothings when a lull in the business gave her an opportunity to use the wire. The young man worked in the Boston office and had the reputation of being a "fly" sender and able to receive what he could send, an all important factor in the "sizingup"of an operator. The woman was proud to have him say even "öm" or "Ge" (good morningorgood evening) to her, and the other jirls on the wire, with whom he never condescended to exchange even these ordinary salutations, were .iealous. As time wore on their conversations over the wire became longer and more frequent. Finally an invitation to come to Boston and visit one of the theaters was given and accepted. The Lothario of the wire was to wear a red, red rose in his buttonliole, a white straw hat, with a blue band; she was to carry a small satchel of peculiar shape in one hand and a fluffy lace handkerchief in the other. The train arrived at the eastern station on time, and the satchel of pcaliar design was sighted. It was indeed a peculiar design. It was an old fashioned carpetbag of a grayish green color and considerablyolder than the Morse alphabet. The girl was a sight that would have made Neil Burgess in the "County Fair" go and hide. She was fully 48 years old. Long corkscrew curls of a past era hung down over her shoulders like twists of rnolasses candy, and a smile loomed up under the eaves of her sunbonnet that would have done credit to a fissure in the side of Vesuvius. She was extremely glad to see hirn, and he, with the instinct of a true gentleman, tried to appear that he was just as glad to see her. He tooK her earpetbag, and they boarded a car for the house where he was staying. There were sly nudges and covert laughs at the tea table, all the girls and young men thinking the young operator waa entertaining his aunt from the country. For the evening performance at the theater the giddy maiden fished out an awful bonnet from the deüths of her petbag and slicked up her curls in the most approved f ashion. The bonnet was a flower garden in itself, and the writer has the young man's own word for it that she and the bonnet attracted more attention than the play. The next day he sent her home, but ever after he was careful not to allow himself to converse with any one on the