Mistakes On The Wire

ine ranny mistakes of telegraphers are as rramerous as those charged up to proofreaders A gentleman who has been an extensive traveler, and consequently not supposert to overlook any details, saw his wife off on a train for the slope the other day. It was supposed that everything had been arranged. The goodby and its accornpaninient had been passed, and the gentleman returned to his home. That night his wife suddenly remembered that sho had left a valnable adjunct to her happiness and wrote a message to her husband which he received the foïlowing morning at his office. It read: "Forgot. Think conductor has telegraphed for it. ' ' He read it again, and it read as at first. "Forgoc vhat, " he murmured. And he read it again and kept reading it until the words ran together and his temples throbbed. He sent a message to his house asking the servants if Mrs. had left anything. They made no discoveries, of course. Then he sent a message to the operator at the office from which his wife's message was sent asking him to repeat it. He waited for an answer. He lost his luncheon and his dinner waiting. He remained at his office until late at night, and as he was about to leave in despair he recéived an answer to his. It read: "Forgot trunk. Conductor has telegraphed for it. " Sure enough, the word "trunk" had been made to read "think. " But wasn't it strange that a man who had traveled all over the world should come to his own home to forget to check his wife's trunk? He laughed to himself after it was all over. But it had cost him lots of worry. Equally funny is this one: A lady in this city had recéived a letter from her old home in Connecticut which caused her a good deal of trouble. Her answer to it was by wire. When it was delivered in the Connecticut home, it read: "How's the weather?" What an exasperating query at such a time! The letter referrèd to the lady's mother's health. The dispatch should have read, "How's mother?" A little different is this one: A gentleman of this city sent his wife a message from Washington March 4, 1893, prepaid, and it has not been delivered up to the present writing. The correspondence between the Chicago office and the Washington and New York offices about the transaction has accumulated until the batch looks like the papers in a long continued lawsuit. - ■