The age-herald., 1900-12-17
SKETCHES FROM
 EVERYDAY LIFE

One of the attractions in dining at a cafe,' said a politician, lis watching the people. After all there is nothing more in- teresting than people and there is usu- ally relaxing effect produced on the mind by a good dinner that makes people appear less formal and more natural al a cafe than elsewhere. Then there is such variety of people to be seen, and the fifteen minutes you have to wait while your dinner is be- ing cooked gives you ample time to look around and speculate as to who and what they are. Sometimes you miss it badly. I remember noticing woman one night who had one of the sweetest faces I had ever seen. She was rather elderly, with gray hair which was very becoming, and she wore quaint old-fashioned pair of gold rimmed glasses. She looked every inch a lady of the old school and while admiring her 1 could not help wondering what she was doing alone in the cafe, which was somewhat Bohemian, although quite respec- table. While l was watching her a wom- on came in and took a seat by her. rec ognized the newcomer as an actress I had seen the night before on the stage. As they seemed on quite intimate terms I concluded they were both actresses, and then l recol- lected that there had been som old painted up and befrizzled woman in the play that nobody paid any attention to as it was a very minor part, and by aid of this mem ory l recognized the sweet-faced woman as the one who had filled this role.
 The other woman seemed very talkative. and, recognizing friend at an adjoining table to them I went over and sat by him to get a nearer view and to hear what they were saying. They were pitching in to the leading lady, the manager and pretty much everyone in the troupe. never heard con- versation with So little Christian charity In it. They were playing, by the way, in one of those virtuous pastoral plays, filled with noble sentiments that always brought loud applause from the gallery gods. This con- Yersation demonstrated that in one sense they were only acting when they expressed sucn beautiful sentiments on the stage although the acting from another stand point was as bad as the conversation"
 T would like to be a telephone girl if only for one night" said an old batchelor I confess that I have good deal of cur iosity and I have often wanted to know some of the things that the telephone girl hears. l know they are busy listening to conversations a great deal of the time and this is one reason why 1t takes time to get an answer. I don't blame the girls a bit It must be annoying to have to stop llsten- ing to an interesting conversation to answer some grabbed business man who wants to know why he can't get number 4-11-A or any other number. Some men get very much out of patience with the telephone, l know of one who got so mad that he seized an axe and smashed the instrument. It cost him $10, but he said 1t was worth it. Another got angry and used some very improper language. It cost him nothing, as he was charged with using improper lam guage in the presence of a female, and the judge held that this statute should be strictly construed and that it did not ap- ply to talking over the telephone This etatute has since been amended. I have a friend who makes love over the telephone. This is not a very satisfactory way, but he does the best he can. His duties confne him to the office very closely, and the girl he makes love to happens to be telephone girl, whose duties confne her to the tele- phone office. However, love will find way, and the telephone in this instance supplies an otherwise muchly felt want.
 
 ''The telephone" he continued, Ifs the greatest convenience of the century. It pays for itself during the year in shoe leather alone. Ane astonishing thing is that every one does not use them. let the per- centage of people who do use them is very small. The cost may have something to do with this, but this should be small mat ter to a county or the Federal Government Yet there are hardly a dozen telephones in all the public buildings in Jefferson Coun- ty. There are practically seven courts in the county building besides the Board of Revenue, and the county officers, and only know of four telephones in the building The United States Court has no telephone. nor the referee in bankruptcy, nor other officers of court. When the new telephone gets it's exchange completed there will no doubt be a large number of people who will use them, but there will be no reduc- tion in cost. Everybody who uses tele phones will have to subscribe to both, and the two together at reduced prices will amount to as much if not more than is now being paid for one. The service will, however, be better and more business can be transacted over the phone as more peo- pie will have them. The new company will not hurt the old company in the least. It will simply get people in the habit of using phones and they will have to have both. It will be like the electric light which every one thought would drive gas out of the market. But they each had troubles of their own. The electric lights were more expensive and the gas while not as brilliant was more reliable People got accustomed to a brilliant light and they now burn moro gas than they ever did before.
 
 correspondent sends in the following