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S WORK OF A *WIRELESS. A NIGHT IN THE TELEGRAPH ROOM ABOARD A LINER. The Marconi Man Has Now Come to ..Be a Recognized Feature of Ocean Travel-—His Status on Shipboard is That of a Ship's Officer. A year or more ago the first Mar coni operator on a transatlantic liner began his work. Now hardly a week goes by that we do not learn of a new ship equipped for wireless tele graphing, and the Marconi man has become a recognized feature of ocean travel. I have traveled with these men, and I shall describe a night spent with one aboard the St. Paul A wet wind blew in from the south west all the evening and the ship swung along through easy seas at a twenty knot gait, well in midocean. Below, on the promenade decks, the passengers heard now and then a sib ilant crackling that seemed to come from somewhere in the air above the ship—a peculiar sound, almost too high-pitched for some ears. Aloft, on the fiddiey deck, the wooden house, ten feet square, whence the crackling noise issued, glowed with electric light. Here we sat, the operator in his shirt sleeves at the big key, now and then rapping out a call that, with in the narrow confines of the little cabin, sounded like sputtering pistol shots, showing blue-white lightning flashes as the current leaped from the ‘“sparker” at each bend of the wrist, and causing blue flame to play ahout the six leyden jars. s+ For minutes at a time the call shot forth; then the operator would shift connections to the receiver and listen for as many minutes, carefully adjust ing and readjusting the delicate in strument meanwhile. They were blocks of delicate and complicated ma chinery, carefully cased in wooden boxes, their supports carefully pad ded to steady them against the least vibration. There was a strip of paper to record messages, like the tape on the old Morze telegraph instruments; but that is not necessary to the op erator who can ‘“read by sound.” The wires from the machines passed through the roof of the office to the top of the aftermast directly above and were held apart by a long wooden “spreader,” which made them look so much like stays that the uninitiated would hardly distinguich them from a part of the ship's rigging. Word came down from the bridge early in the evening that we should probably pass the Phiiadelphia some time between midnight and dawn. This meant all-night work for the Mar coni man, who takes care to be at his instrument an hour or two before a Ship is expected tq come within his reach. The amount of electric power aboard an ordinary liner is sufficient to send wireless messages 150 miles under favorable circumstances. Know ing the sailing days and speeds of the ships that they are likely to meet or overtake, the navigating officers of a liner can calculate roughly when they are likely to come within the required radius of another floating telegraph office. * Thus the operator was “feeling about” this evening in the upper air. Toward midnight the first answer came to the receiver from the un known deep—faint, disconnected taps. The operator called and listened, but the faint tapping, though it grew louder, did not become coherent, nor could he read it on the tape. We got the letters P. H., which surely meant the Philadelphia, and our own call; then everything suddenly ceased. The ship was within reach, we knew, but there was no further answer to our constant query of P. H, P. H, P. H. Connections were broken in some way, and it was for us to find out how. We went cutside and gazed upward into the darkness, but the wires seem ed {o be intact. For an instant the full light of the moon flooded through the scurrving clouds and let us see where the trouble l2y. From a nearby cleat the operator cast off the slender linies of the signal halyards, which had blown against the wires and thus grounded the line, and made them fast and taut some feet farther away, then he plunged into the house again. The instrument was ticking cheer fully with a call from the Philadelphia and the tape was registering it ac curately. We answered the call, and in another moment ‘“talk” began to pass between the two ships—matters of interest to one ship or the other, messages between passengers, anc finally the news of the day from either side. .Two hours later the reading by sound became difficult, the tape began to miss, and the last faint good bys were said. Sometimes a vessel has been in al most daily communication with others all the way across. Such was a re cent experience of the Ivernia. After leaving Liverpool communication was kept up with the Marconi station at Waterloo until the Rosslare station called the ship. On the following day—Wednesday—when the liner was 30 miles off Queenstown, the admiral ty’s station at Roche’s Point informed her that the weather was too rough to send the tender outside, which necessitated entering the harbor. On leaving Queenstown bay communica tion with an incoming steamer was established and kept up for some time. At noon mes:zages were exchanged with the Brow Haven station, 85 miles east, and rough weather and fog were reported ahead. About 90 miles off Brow Head it was learned that a second cabin pas senger had lost her ticket. Queens town was called, and it was learned from the office that the woman had bought a ticket, as she said. The difficulty was satisfactorily adjusted. The same day a homeward bound steamer from New York was spoken, and many messages were exchanged between passengers. The next day an other English ship sent word through the air, and on Sunday a German liner was heard from, the vessels commu nicating for some time over a distance of 100 miles. Immediately afterward a Frenchman was heard talking with the German. Monday was another busy day for the Marconi operator, for messages were exchanged with the Umbria, the Minneapolis, the Kroonland and a Hamburg boat. The Marconi man on this trip earned his salary as well as the commendation of the ship’s company. The charge for transmitting mes sages from ship to ship at sea is six pence a word, and the address and signature free. From ship to shore the rate on the American side is $2 for ten words, and 12 cents for each additional word, with no charge for address and signature, the regular tolls for transmission from the office on land to the final destination also being collected on shipboard, of course. On the English side the charge for a marconigram from a liner is six shillings for twelve words and sixpence for each additional word, the signature and address being charg ed for in this case. The Marconi man’'s status on ship board is that of a ship’s officer. His duties are confined entirely to the management and handling of his in struments in the little office on the fiddley deck. At meals he may mess with the junior officers or sit with the saloon passengers. If, therefore, his work is arduous, he has at least pleasant surroundings. — Winthrop Packard, in the World's Work. New Geographical Ciock. An interesting clock was recently completed by Charles D. Davis, of Chicago. Geographical clocks, or clocks which indicate the time in ev ery part of the world, are by no m2ans new, but Mr. Davis’ invention is said to posses many novel features. The dial is totally unlike that of the ordinary time recorder, in that it contains 360 marks where the min ute marks are usually placed, these marks rapresenting the 3560 degrees cn the earth's surface. On the outer circle of the dial, where the twelve hour representations are unusally placed, are twenty-four figures repre senting the full day. The minutes are denoted by marks on the outer circle, but two dots are required for five minutes, because there are twice as many characters on the face as on the ordinary clock. The dial is divided in the center from the six mark to the opposite six mark. The twelve hours of the day are distinguished by light spaces and the remaining twelve hours by darki spaces. The hour hand is stationary | at the point which is made the cen tral time while the minute hand re volves as on the ordinary clock. 1 To determine the time it is only necessary to locate the city or coun try on the red dial and read the time in relation to its as on an ordinary clock.—Jewellers’ Circular-Weekly. When Nature is Remiss. Nature nods undoubtedly at times, as in the case of the child born with out a brain, whose case has been made public this week., Not long ago an infant was born and lived for three weeks with a hole through its heart. Thousands of us are color blind, others rhave no musical sense. And there are many Laura Bridg mans, many Helen Kellers. The queen of Roumania has or had at her court in personal attendance upon herself the daughter of a blind noble man. She could neither hear nor speak and had to be taught to com municate by holding the throat of a speaker and imitating the vibration produced by the effort. But what a grudge against mature must such a one as Lyon Playfair discovered ever feel! Here was a girl who was blind, deaf, dumb and could neither taste ner smell. One might be pardoned for asking if such a life was worth living. Yet there was a beautiful les son in such an existence, as the great warm heart of Playfair discovered. He sent her a pretty finger ring, and the poor mite replied in this pitifully pretty letter: “Dear Sir Lyon Play fair; Sir Lyon Playfair sent Edith ring in box. Edith thank Sir Lyon Playfair for ring. Sir Lyon Playfair come to see Edith. Good-by. Edith.” During his visit the child had .closely examined his hands, wrists, arms and face, her touch being marvellouslyl accurate. A year later he went again, | to see her. At first she did not recog nize him and no one betrayed his identity. At length she turned back‘ the cuff of his shirt and touched his wrist. Her face lit up with intense joy. “It is the Englishman who gave me the ring,” she rapidly spelled out{ on her fingers. And in a second she had flung her little arms around his neck and was weeping witw. delight at the recognition.—St. James’ Ga zette. A Queen as a Shopper. . The Queen, the Princess of Wales, Princess Charles of Denmark and Princess Vicioria walked from the castle into Windsor yesterday after noon .nd did some shopping. The Princesses filled their pockets with lovely things, the royal party staying in the shops a considerable time. “They give as little trouble as possible,” said Mr. Barber, “and it i 3 a real pleasure to wait on them.” The Queen and the Princesses would not' even trouble the shopkeeper to have some of the things wrapped in paper. They simply put the small purchases into their pockets and asked for the larger things to be sent on to the castle. Her Majesty and the Princesses did not pay for their purchases in hard cash, but the Queen remarked to one tradesman, “You can trust me?”’ They seemed to make lightl of the uanpropitious weather and :he} wet pavements, and tramped along quite gayly, holding an animated con versation and frequently stopping to look at the wares displayed in the shop windows of the Hign street.— Orders have recently been executed in Japan for a supply of fishing nets for Alaska, valued at $30,C00. The per capita wealth of England is $210; that of Canada $240. | Starved in Hold of Ship. When the bottom hold of the steame ship Rappahannock was opened, Rob-- art Leslie, almost a living skeleton, . was found among the cargo stored . there. When the ship was loading in. [.ondon an American named Leslie - crept aboard with a pint of water and o little bread and went down into the - for the purpose of beating his . way across to this country. Merchan (¢ise was placed in the hold until the - man was stowed away much more securely than he desired. When the ship got under way and he - desired to go on deck to throw him self upon the mercy of Captain Buck- - ingham he found all means of egress barred. When the hold was opened Leslie - rould hardly speak above a whisper, and he now lies at the hospital at. Newport News at the verge of death.. He went into the hold of the Rappa-- hannock a hale, hearty man, weighing - 140 pounds. He came out looking - like a skeleton over which had been drawn a parchment covering. He: - weighed hardly sixty pounds. Physi- - :al and mental suffering both have - eft an imprint upon his features, and :he physicians at the hospital are: ioubtful of saving the man’s life. The mere fact that he passed through the terrible ordeal without succumb- - ing, however, shows remarkable vital- - ity, and they may be able to pull him« through.—lndianapolis News. . A Vegetable Porcupine. The best hated cactus in America.. {s the cholla., The Mexicans say that if you go near a cholla joint it. will jump at you. Certainly if you touch one it will stick, and when you try to free yourself it will pierce: your other hand as well. Ea.chf pen-- lent joint seems to reach out for the passerby, and the ground beneatb the broad cholla tree is strewn | with fallen fragments, many of which|take root and grow. { After one has felt the sharp s&)ines through heavy boots and seen "their needle points, it is a source ofi con-- tinual wonder to sce the wild dattle of Arizona quietly browsing on(i,chol las. The phrase “cactus fed,” as ap plied to Arizona, is not a figure of speech. During the years of drgught thousands of cattle carry th‘enfs’alves over until the next grass by e}ating' chollas. With their leathery tongues and lips they strip the spriny ?oints‘ from the trunk and leave the fwide spreading cactus a bare and w{‘:ody' skeleton. It is only the range\:\cat--- tle, whose mouths have been hgrden ed on the thorny mesquite and }:iron-- wood browse, who will undertalys to eat cactus, and cattlemen therefore often burn the thorns from cl*lollas-- and nopals in order to tempt !their more fastidious animals to éat‘.—- Country Life in America. z The Dimensions of Noah’s Ark. Within the last ten years the |gen eral dimensions of the ark have {been closely followed by cargo steamship builders for deep sea and the Ameri can Great Lakes service. According to the Bible, the ark was 480 [ feet long, 80 feet wide and 48 feet dleep. Her tonnage was 11,413, and she| had enough rooms for pairs of all the dis tinct species of animals that) are classed by Buffon—244--and she ¢ould have accommodated a thousand 'per sons and then have plenty of room for the storage of supplies. In the seven teenth century Peter Jansen, a Hol lander, built a vessel of the exact pro portions of the ark, and she was sue cessful, as the records of the tilixmes show, in making money for her gwn ers. Noah, the “Father of l\f&‘val Architecture,” is held in profound re spect by naval architects of to-day, who know how immeasurably the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans /and all other shipbuilders fell short of the excellence of the type of the ark las & commodious, safe and economical|ves sel.—Syren and Shipping. / A baker’s oven in France, \!‘Whicb fs heated by electricity, is said “to be a success in every particular.