The Osceola times., 1880-07-31
PREACHING By TELEPHONE.
How the same Sermon Was Heard AT Orce
In Six Cities and Towns.

How the same Sermon Was Heard at Orce
In siy Cities and Towns.
New York sun.
The congregation of Plymouth church,
BROOKLYN, was widely scattered yester.
day. for the sermons were transmitted
10 various points in New York and New
Jersey through the telephone. The
transmitters in the church were placed
under the Mount Olivet table on the
platform. The instruments were ar
ranged by Mr.. Charles +. Chinook, the
electrician of the Bell Telephone Com
pany. so that whichever way the
preacher turned his words were caught
np, even as he walked up and down his
fiileen-foot rostrum, and carried along
the circuit. Instruments were placed IN
the Brooklyn Office at 342 Fulton street,
at the home of Mr.. Alfred +. Beach,
Nineteenth street, New York: at the eX-
ecutiye Office of the company, twenty
first street, New York; at Newark and
Orange, at the home of Mr.. Chinook,
Nassau street, Brooklyn; at the home OF
Robert Brown, Carlton avenue; at the
Nassau street, New York, office; at the
Jersey City branch office. and at the
home of Mr.. II. W. Pope, general super
intcndent of the company, at Elizabeth.
This was the first attempt to transmit a
sermon on such an extended scale, and
was regarded as sufficiently successful
TO demonstrate the possibility of dis
tr,buting q sermon TO any number OF
hearers.
Owing 10 the necessity for conceallng
the transmitters from the congregation,
as well as 10 the drawback of baving but
one wire, the sound was not at all times
distinct. hut was interrupted by inquiries
from various points on the circuit.
Whenever the preacher thumped his
Bible there was whiz and a whirr that
was any thing but solemn.
The music of the choir OF the Congre-
CATION and the soloist were heard plainly
all over the circuit, but the big organ
sounded like very dIminutivc melo-
deon. The sermons were rather discon-
nected, from the fact that the listeners
at the instruments were constantly
changing, and occasionally the wires
would get crossed or the plugs pulled
out, so that the discourse would get
mixed with messages. The morning
sermon ran somethigg like this;
"What can be more pitiiul Hallol
Hallol1 than the spectacle recently pre-
sented at West Point? Hallol Chin
referring to Mr.. ChinDock, the clcctrl-
cian-don't cut me of. How is the
young man treated? There, you've cut
nae off again He was ostracised by his
comrades. Halo! Beach! Hallo!l In
suits were showered upon him. Put
that plug in little tighter.l He works
| his way onward But the detestable
prejudice of those who should have been
his comrades and associates Stop calling
and listen, will you'll single him out
| Brown, be quiet for persecution, and
| the brutal hrr-rr-r.r!-caused by tine
preacher pounding the table cowardly
outrage there sound like the clashinc
I of cymbals |, with accounts OF which the
newspapers have been teeming for q
week. is committed upon him"
As soon as all the listeners got quiet
| however, the sermons were heard with
| dstinctness, and when the number ot
| listeners on the circuit was decreased
the sound became much more distinct
than when the circuit was open fol
all. Mr. Chinook said that with a sep
arate transmtter and n separate wire
there would be no trouble whatever N
hearing the whole Of any service with
out interruption. The peculiar to; anc
accent of the preacher were easily recog
nizable, and the sermon might have
been heard by any one of the $500 per
sons who are in communication Will
the Bell Telephone Co. Mr.. ChinnOcl
says that it would be possible for 1
preacher to stay at home and preach hi
sermon to a congregation of 10000 a
| their homes