ead.

But the general manager received a truthful account from me, together
with the statement that Ben Mayberry alone deserved the credit for
deciphering the telegram which foreshadowed an intended crime.
Corporations, as a rule, are not given to lavish rewards, but the letter
which the manager sent to Ben was more highly prized than if it had been
a gold watch studded with diamonds, or a deed for the best house in
Diamietta. His heart throbbed when he read the warm words of praise from
the highest officer in the company, who told him to continue faithfully
in the path on which he had started, and his reward was certain. That
letter Ben to-day counts among his most precious prizes, and nothing
would induce him to part with it.

The best thing about this whole business was the fact that Ben never lost
his head through the profusion of compliments from those in authority. He
realized that the straight road to success lay not through accidental
occurrences, which may have befriended him, but it was only by hard,
painstaking, and long-continued application that substantial and enduring
success is attained.

Ben was always punctual at the office, and never tried to avoid work
which he might have contended, and with good reason, did not belong to
him. His obliging disposition was shown by his volunteering to deliver
the message which nearly cost him his life. The duty of the telegraphist
is very confining, and so exacting that the most rugged health often
gives way under it, and persons take to other business before completely
broken up. But this debility is often the fault of the operators
themselves, who sit bent over their desks, smoking villainous cigarettes
or strong tobacco, who ride in street cars when they should gladly seize
the chance to walk briskly, and who, I am sorry to say, drink
intoxicating liquors, which appear to tempt sedentary persons with
peculiar power.

Ben Mayberry had none of these baneful habits. He lived a long distance
from the office, and although the street cars passed within a block of
his home, I never knew him to ride on one, no matter how severe the
weather might be.

Besides this, he belonged to a baseball club, and, in good weather, when
we were not pushed, managed to get away several times a week during which
he gained enough vitality and renewed vigor to last him for days.

One particularly busy afternoon, just as Ben had finished sending off a
lengthy dispatch, someone rapped sh