Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-07-16
VOICES FROM AFFAIR.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE WORKINGS
OF LONG DISTANCE PHONES.
THEIR WONDERFUL OPERATIONS
We May Now Talk with Person
LOO Miles Awny-Otber Improve
ments i'm Way of TeIcphoDes-Pcep
at Central" and the Busy Girls.

NORFOLK, VA. July 80 times. o
customs. how changed you are! Years
ago Mary r. Hewitt, in burst Of poetic
rhapsody. wrote:
"a voice went forth throughout the land,
And an answering voice replied
From the rock-piled mountain fast
nesscs
To the surglng ocean tide"
Now. when these verses were penned
nobody thought of taking them literally,
for at that period even stentor himself
couldn't have found the lung power to
whoop from the mountains TO the sea.
They were set down as hguratiye Ian
euage-as poetic license which allows
poets TO say almost anything that is un-
grammatical and impossible. In this day
and generation, when men are practical
and science has more new tricks than a
vaudeville star, the first fellow who saw
those verses would eXclaim: "Why, what
a beautiful little allusion 20 the long
distance telephonew And i'm SO misin-
terpretng the poets meaning he wouldn't
I'm the least be making a fool of himself,
for the long-distance phone does every
thing that Is mentioned in the lines
quoted. Through It's medium many
voices $50 forth throughout the land,
and equally as many reply from noun
tain Businesses and sewhere-that is,
If the proper connection can be gotten
and the takers have the money to pay
expenses.
Years ago. when the Bell Telephone
Company first started its operations,
Uncle Remus" was not the only indl-
Vidual who found occasion 10 be mysti-
fed by the workings of the mechanism.
Everybody thought IL was marvellous.
but BY and by. after people saw that they
were getting their moneys worth in SER
vice. they ceased 10 wonder and took
things for granted Then IL became ne
ccssary 20 give them something new and
mysterious something that no one had
ever dreamed of or hoped for The wise
men who are always experimenting and
''proHcking" put their resourceful era
NUNS together. and after a decade or so
Of experimenting they have placed upon
the market this wonderful Invention that
carries the human voice for hundreds of
miles The thing is no longer an expert
ment-a playthlng Of sdentisls-but one
Of those practical devices which enter
largely into tho business machinery OF
nineteenth century civilization.
'LONG-DISTANCE PLEASE"
Richmond always natters herself that
She has the best of everything. and gets
1t first. but they whisper around in Nor
folk that We know few telephone
tricks which have not yet reached iue
Old Dominion capital. In this town. when
We wish 10 use the lOng-distance phone
We do not take a day off l. go To down
town Office 10 do our talking, nor 30 We
suspend business until we can catch the
fellow we want in Chicago or Cincnnat
or New York. No: that IS not quite speedy
and novel enough for this city. We SIN
ply 90 20 the Southern Bell phone IN oui
house. take of the receiver, ana without
giving our number. briefly say, Ions
distance" Then pretty girl IN the iin
unseen distance, who has been nOuhe'
Of the fact of our existence by our liftns
the receiver from the hook chirps oach
in dulcet tones TO ask what town W.
wish We then tell her we desire TO com
municate with Mr. Erastus Hawkins, o'
Pork Terrace Chicago. After that We
hang up the receiver and go about on
business 1t may be that Hawkins is out
and Il viii take some time 10 catch him
90 It's no use quitting everything else t'
dance attendance upon nm. by ana DN
when he is found. "Central"-thlt deal
girl who represents whole hunks OF patti
ence-rings you up and tells you Haw
klns Is ready 10 hear your tale of woe
Then YOU talk and pour your troubles
into his ear and make him see thing
which he couldn't possibly understand
Cor YOU couldn't make him understand
were YOU TO write TO him. It's all YER
nice and wonderful and you save mucl
money IN teleRrams and railroad fare, am
are tickled TO death at your cconomi
skill. Did you ever stop 20 think Of IT.
did you ever believe thc time would com
when you would get 90 Doe such o big ma
that YOU could stand in your own nous
or office and throw that voice Of your
100 mies-to Iowa, 10 Illinois. 10. Ne'
York. 10 Pennsylvania to Georgia I
GOODNESS only knows where? But the.
are others--at least IN Norfolk. We al
60 IL In Norfolk. and this isn't cur yea
for talking. either
HOW THE THING WORKS.
They say that in Richmond when
man wants 10 use the long-distdnc
'phOne. he has TO put on his coat, fac
The sun, and 90 way downtown 10 IN
beng -distapce ofilce and wait there unit