current blog crush: jason kottke
(sure, us and biljillions of others)
Thursday 24 August 2006 | I like a cookie
We’ve long loved that little stripy colored graphic at the top right…we love him for inventing and giving away the Silkscreen font…we love him not least because though in the top 20, he’s still not too proud to direct us to kooky funny things like this video of a monkey teasing a dog…but today we mostly love him because of this heart-breaking tale of a proto-geek from a 1902 article in McClure’s magazine called “Telegraph Talk and Talkers,” written by early telegraph operator LC Hall:
Many friendships were formed over the wire between senders who, judging mainly by the cadence of the code, sized up their counterparts from hundreds of miles away to the point of knowing their gender and general demeanor despite having never asked. Hall struck up such a friendship with a man called C G, whose attachment to Morse and Hall was so strong that he called out for him on his deathbed:
“Late in the evening,” said the [head nurse] as our interview was ending, “I was called into his room. He was rapidly failing, and was talking as if in a dream, two fingers of his right hand tapping the bedclothes as if he were sending a message. I did not understand the purport, but perhaps you will. ‘You say you can’t read me?’ he would say; ‘then let H come to the key. He can read and understand me. Let H come there, please.’ Now and again his fingers would cease moving as if he were waiting for the right person to answer. Then he would go on once more: ‘Dear me, dear me, this will never do! I want to talk with H. I have an important message for him. Please tell him to hurry.’ Then would follow another pause, during which he would murmur to himself regretfully. But at last he suddenly assumed the manner of one listening intently; then, his face breaking into a smile, he cried, his fingers keeping time with his words: ‘Is that you, H? I’m so glad you’ve come! I have a message for you.’ And so, his fingers tapping out an unspoken message, his kindly spirit took its flight.
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