, 1880-12-12

| mucl, more distinctly heard through, the tel
! cplolie than persons whose voices ure bass.
So sensitive Is the telephone to induced
! currents of electricity, that il 2 telephone
wire be strung, fol. even block, upon the
duced currents will be set UP i'll it Of sufii
cient strength to report all the message:
passing over the telegraph wire. By apply
Ing the ear to nearly any telephone
<in the city, the click of telegraph
instruments may be heard, from the reasol
that nearly every telephone wire in use i:
strung on pole in proximity to some tele
graph wire.
THE SYSTEM DT WHICH TIE TELEPHONES
ARE WORKED
Is Of great interest. The wires running te
hundreds of offices In town centre in olio
4switch-boartl." as it is called, IN the rooms
Of the telephone company: Said switch
board is covered with small brass terminals
each of which is the terminal OF . wire, and
each of which is numbered. At hand are
numbers Of pairs Of brass plugs, which ut
ally connected witt, each other by means OF
a flexible strand Of fine wires. Before con-
ing to. this SWITCH board each wire runs
through all indicator. and call bell.
swarm around, niulbie and busy US potato
bugs in crop time. The wor king Is now as
follows: A TRIBUNE reporter, attending q
lecture OH Blue Island avenue. hears of a
murder six blocks away, and wishes to no.
tify the office: He steps into the nearest
telepllOne-statlon and rings up the central
office. 4 small boy at telephone which
embraces that district, and who is ever on
the alert, hears the call and sees No. 318,
say, drop On the Indicator. lie Immediately
that the reporter wants to communicate with
the office, and sings out: Put 3i6 OIL 4Gv:-
supposing 46 is the number attached to THE
TE1buSE tag. The boy tending the switch.
pSasd I, instantly g grabs up s,e ,n set +Sd OF
oSns otSsr s s0xss Gus ans e ss ana theme sas
while third boy. sends an electric signal
over THE TElBUNE's wire to call some one
to the telephone. The conversation being
concluded, the reporter gives signal to dis
connect, and the boy at the switcll-board- at
onGe removes the plugs.
leswitcll-hoartl-boy's position is one which
taxes memory AMI agility to tile extreme.
He Must know each Subscribers name and
number, and be able instantly to put his
belongs to each. There is no time to study
it if lie had months Of leisure. When sig
nal comes in that Carter Harrison, for ex-
aEsS ng arca wani FtS S h M as S9fsn to
find out what Carter's number is and
where Perry can be found. Oh. no!
he just grabs UP two plugs,
japs one in 81, near the lower; left
hand corner Of the switcll-board, and shoves
and knows TINT Carter is sylnpathlZing with
Perry in the next two seconds
Of course the boy -s01nctlnlts makes mis-
takes,-he wouldn't be boy If lie didn't
Sometimes two orders are yelled at him sim
Gator wires, and the result is general chaos.
0fr. Jefferson, for example, is going out to
dine witt, 4 friend, aud has rune up the
main office, asking to be connected with bis
house. Mr: Jobkins, dealer, in short short~rlbs,
give particular fits. to his foreman,
who is delaying an important shipment |
The boy gets both orders at once, connects
Alr. Jefferson with the warehouse, and Mr.
Jefferson gets blue blazes from the exasper-
ated pork dealer, and Mr.. Jefferson, after
having poured Il sweet excuse into the fore
mans ear, shuts uD the telephone with a
map and hurr}es off to q stag. dinner: Mr..
:ustes 0tf to discharge his foreman, while |
Mrs. Jefferson sits up until a. III. TO inter
Jew her spouse and find out why he had |
Jared 70 abuse her so sdreadfully over the |
wire
The cause OF these mistakes lies frequently |
n the similarity of vowel sounds III some |
names, which cause confusion on the tc1e- |
,hone, where the consonal1ts, with persons I
lot accustomed to clear enunciation, are !.
vIose enunciation IS So decidedly clear that
he boy thinks there must be a mistake some
where, 1t being the usual habit with sub |
cr!bers to talk like man With his mouth
ull OF hot mush. Thereupon cnsues an an
he boy, wound up by the maul's dancing u
'ar- dance anu spelling his name over four
ines with horrible distinctness, and asking
he boy what in hello IS the matter.