After leaving Blue Field I loafed a while, but that's tiresome work at
best, so I journeyed down to Galveston, Texas, one bright fall morning,
and after trying my luck at the railroad offices, I wandered into the
commercial office on the Strand and asked George Clarke, the chief
operator, for a job.
"What kind of a man are you?" he said.
"First-class in every respect, sir," I replied.
"Sit down there on the polar side of that Houston quad and if you are
any account, I'll give you a job at seventy dollars per month."
Now a "Quad" is an instrument whereby four messages are going over the
_same_ wire at the _same_ time. The mechanism of the machine is
different in every respect from the old relay, key and sounder, used on
the railroad wires. In a vague way I had heard of "quads," and imagined
I could work them as well as an "O. S." wire, but when he said for me to
sit down on the "Polar side," I was, for a minute, stumped. However,
there were already three chaps sitting at that table, so the fourth
place must be mine. I sat down and presently I heard the sounder say,
"Who?" I answered "BY," and then "HO," said, "Hr.
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