THE TELEGRAPH GIRL.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1557, 10 March 1874, Page 144

THE TELEGRAPH GIRL.

CHARLES G. LELAND. Since Soul first baked in Passion's sun, I always ran to seed Iu seekin One who'd gone and done Some great heroic deed ; And deemed I'd found life's earnest Truth In Gloriana Green, Who engineered a bonnet shop, With sewing by machine. But as the rose of morning fades Before the fire of noon, Or sparrows yield in sylvan glades To mocking birds in June, My Gloriana's stock went downIts wheat all turned to chaffWhen I got in with Mary Miles, Who ran the Telegraph. Her brow betokened serious life ; I knew my final queen ; A soul divine in gaiter-boots, A dream in crinoline. Her parasol a glory seemed Around a vivid saint, The whole one spirit-photograph Illumed with heavenly paint. And thus she lifted up her voice, That mission-mantled maid; And thus she spoke with golden grace, Aiid sacredly she said— A-pointing at me all the time With that same parasol, The light which gleams from silent lands Around her seemed to fall—- " You've told of great and holy deeds— I s'pose they all are trueBut in our telegraphic line We've some adventures, too ; And though I do not like to boast Of what I ever done One thing my Moral Consciousness Declares was Number One. " Last fall I was in Tennessee A-travelling might and main, When all at once the engine broke— They couldn't run the train; And if another train should come 'Twould rather make us scream." List to the glorious deed she did, This angel of my dream. " I saw a telegraphic line Was running by our rout, Though not a house or a machine Was anywhere about. And the conductor said, said he, With his wild eyes of light; • Miss Miles, if we'd a battery, I'd fix this scrape all right. "' I'd send 'em down a telegram Some twenty miles below, And ask for help.' I looked at him—- ' I'll fix the business. Joe. Is there a pair of nippers here 1 If so, those nippers bring: And if you can't, a sharp-edged file Would be a heaven-sent thing.'" " Unshadowed girl! I see the dodge," I cried in rapturous joy ; " And didst thou climb the post thyself ?" Said she, " I did, my boy. A higher law of moral truth Gave courage to my soul; I did not show my garters once In going up the pole. " No poet ever felt such thrills In touching of his lyre As I did when I found there came A message through the wire. That wire I cut, and 'tween my teeth I held it—ay, with pride,— And with my tongue the current clicked To the wire on t'other side. "On one side came a message in From some man in New York ; • Buy if you can, at ninety-five, Five thousand sides of pork.' And this same electricity I changed as in a flash : ' Send down an engine right away, Or we shall go to smash.' " The engine came and all were saved,— Yet life is but a dream. I live —thou livest in a cloud : We are not what we seem. Still craving for the Infinite In Time's ideal lodge, I grasped a Truth—yet after all 'Twas but an earthly dodge." I gazed upon the spirit grand, Upon my knees I sank, And from mine eyes the burning sand The scalding tear-drops drank. Then soft she smiled: "If deeds like this Can yield such victoiy And I am in your line, my love, Then, love, I yield to thee." Ho, maidens of Vienna's show ! Ho, matrons of Lucerne ! Look out, for us next summer, when We give your shop a turn. I have won my soul's ideal, T have booked her for a wife : And the Fancy and the Real Are united in my life!