Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-18
Prom the New York Times.


TESr-rHE WOES or 4 PHOTOGRAPHER.
From the New York Times.
When man speaks iutO the telephone FOR the
first time he acts as if his very life depended on
the effort. He glues his mouth over the orifice
In the transmtter. and hearing the sautatfon
from the other end Of the line shuts his eyes
AMI yells at the top of his lungs: DO YOU hear
me:" The sound waves cannot escape az every
part Of the hole is covered and they are violent
enough tn make his teeth rattle Or course.
the person with whom he is cndeavoring to talk
cannot make ont 4 word he says 1t is all Jar
gon. III there is no one To tell him better the
man will Feiouble his efforts to make himself
heard. He VIII yell until he is black in
the face and hoaFse as fog-hoTn and
finally consi@n the telephone to the e0ua-
torial hereafter as a dismal failure and
Il base imposition on u confiGing public Most
people seem to think that because thoy may be
talking III distance they must shout to render
their tones intelligible. When talking through
the telephone, the conversation should he car
RED on in the ordinary tone Of voice. Not only
thls. tut the person speaking should stand not
less than three and not more than eight inches
from the traEsmltter. When one covers
up the transmitter and bellows into the
opening like II mad bull the words at
the po!rt where they are received are
simply {! mass of sounds with no meaning. TO
speak too low would be an error. but it Is one
OF which no one IL guilty. Another thing, peO-
pie appear tn be in ~ great hurry when talking
into telephone. The words run out as though
issuing from a taiking-machne. the crank of
which is turned by meiiial whose pay depends
on the number o. revelations. The way to speak
into telephone is TO talk deliberately. hut not
slowly to an unnecessary degree. and To articu-
late clearly every word 1t is lust as easy to
employ good, plain English. which everybody
can use. as il is TO adopt mannersns and infec-
tiOns in speech. The telephone must be adj
justed TO the voice. As voices pitched at all
Keys are poured into the transniitter the only
thing that can I've done in ordinary cases is to
endeaHor to strike happy medium
HOW IT WORKS.
There Is an arm back OF the diaphragm against
which the sounds are thrown. thumb-scrcw
enables the arm To Ge pressed down upon a car
bon button which comes in contact with the
diaphragm or TO be lOOsened at will. Usually
The diaphragm is adjusted to suit The ycire of
the Inspector. who is accustomed TO TALKING
through the telephone, and thus is nia.l. to
serve the purpose of every one. The TELEPHONE il
a delicate instrument. and when put ND for
private use is generally adjusted to the voice
OF the person using it. j. persons voice Is thin
and piping the diaphragm is left loose so to speak
The sound waves are light. and if the diaphragm,
were held tightly they would not move it sufii
GENTLY TO produce the electrical movement On
the other hand. if heavy chest tones are to be-
thrown into the fransmiticr. the arm must be
screwed up somewhat tightly. otherwise the ii-
aphragm would be made to jingle in It's place by
the violence of the sounds 1t would send out
over the line confused noises, and the person
speaking would not be able to convey his words
or their meaning. Naturally enough an Amer
lean, as rule is more easily understood at
least through the telephone here. than a for
eisner who has acquired the English tongue to
a greater or less degree. In the first place his
pronunciation is more familiar. But this is not
all. His syllabes sEd sentences are clearer
and he takes more naturally. seemingly.
to the telephone. The German. ordinarily
sluggish and cultural iii speech. rouses
the transmtter. He talks as II he were talking
against time, and pitches his voice in the kew Of
L. Ibis Is peculiar fact noted by the telephone
operators. The German makes bad work OF it.
but when he leaves the telephone he resumes
his wOnted calmness and deliberate WAYS The
greatest trouble with the French and Spanish is
the rapidty with which they talk. While their
pronunciation may he no more correct than TIT,
Germans, it Is usually more distinct !:aiects
are quite difficult thoroughly to comprehend
The facial expression and explanatory move
ments cannot be seen. at; only the plain words
fall upon the ear, vim nothing in the range of
the vision to- complete the explanation The
lrishna-s brOgue is rounded off that it comes
over the wire sharply aud plainly. The negro is
hard to understand onaccOunt Of his ong-drawn
PEOPLE ARE VERY INPATIENT
at the telephone. and If they are kept waiting
three minutes they will say that il is half an
hOur. A person thinks nothing of waiting la a
business house, the operators say. for IL or 20
minutes. but if kept at the telephone five min
uteS they Will declare that the thing is of no
earthly use. They do not stop to think that the
people who are called up DO not always respond
instantly. or that brief delay is not a 1.-THE of
the time that would be takennp in going to
the place When Mr.. Brewster Baldhead goes
to the telephone he will brook no DELAY He saw
ageiy turns the crank which rings the bell or
drops the annunciatOr i'm the central office and
demands: Connect Inc with Mr. ROderick Red
nose" He waits IL seconds and i'm blood-cnrd-
ling tones cries, Hello" The operator in fear
and trembling. replies: MIR. Rednose does not
respond" Mr.. Baiihaad slams down the re-
ceiver and eyclaims: I'D like to know what
blarsted good the thing is You can't get any,
body when you want To. I'll have the blamed
thing taken out There is button on one side
OF the telephone In most general use which must
be pressed when the crank is turned for q con-
nectiOn. A thOnghtless person will grind the
machine until his arm is tired and curse the
instrument until he nearly brings on congestion
of the lungs, when it will occur to him that he
has not pressed the button. Perhaps he will
not think of this at all In that event he will
report to the superintendent OF the
line that the telephone will not work
and might as well be removed first as last.
There is place for plug over the top
of the instrument This is called a lightning
arrester. This completes natural circuit and
allows the electrical current 10 pass over the
wires without going through the instrument. If
Is somewhat unsafe TO use telephone in "a than-
der storm, and the plug is for Use i'm such case
When the plug is in place the bell will ring. but
message cannot be received OF sent II is no
uncommon thing for man TO complain that his
telephone is out Of order when the plug is In.
If the receiver is not hung In It's place a person
cannot be called up. 4 telephone COMPANY
usually finds work for halt IL dozen Elen or
more running around trying to ascertain why
people cannot be made to respond to calls The
telephone companies short time ago adOpted
rule to test all the wires in the morning.
Consequently the first thing the operators lin
gle the bells OF the subscribers to see If the in
struments are In working order. BY this means it
is hoped to discover any irregularities or defects
and to prevent subscribers from suffering incOn-
yeniences- Not all subscribers take the test
in the spirit In which it is made. ..Helo." came
back the gruff reply to the call the other tay Of
a young lady operator. Said she .'This is our
daily test" You are my daily pest" was the
reply OF the man at the other end; .'get ont of
that Sometimes subscribers are asked TO call
up to the central office to see if there is any
trouble In calling. A business man down town
rung up a few DAYS ago ''Please give ma