The age-herald., 1900-10-07

the average woman crazy, for the latter has been known to be threatened with nervous prostration if her telephone lines became crossed and she could not for the moment confer with her dearest woman friend in regard to some trivial matter. In tones that convey her state of mind she shrieks into the ears of the telephone girl until the latter must feel that her ear drums are being torn into shreds. She quietly answers that the lines will be ad- justed, and communicating the complaint to Central, she answers the next ring on her lines. which in all probability is from a business man who has been waiting TOT half second, but who declares that ne has been ringing Central for half hour or an hour, according to his impatient mood' He 70, in ,cs to losa tiE e and to 1ntrude
 lnon the tim. of the telephone girl by dwelling upon the time he has been walt ing for his connection. The telephone girl, knowing that she is dealing with a man who is unreasonable, makes the cohectlon without discussing the matter, ana prop ably has a sympathetic thought for the wife of such a man, who would make ms home anything but pleasant if breakfast was not on the table every morning at the stroke of the clock
 The hurry of the business man IS the greatest bete noir to the telephone girl ana in extreme cases the fact that she Is woman is her only protection A 'teie- nhone man. and the business man, even when ranged over long distance ueie- phone would come to blows, Tor the lorhiSr would not submit to any language that was moi 'sladylilSe" while the latter would take advantage of the fact that he was taiklns to n man and would not be as guarded m hie remarks as when speaking to the 1eie- nhone girl There is not a single instance where a woman is not recogm2ed as pre- eminentlv being suited for the position ol telephone operator. . |. ,,o,.
 that come to her
 ao,., ofter day result in making her a great st,ident of human nature, and the telephohe erl soon learns to distinguish lne FoiUeS of the woman who continually 1rets oEei trivial things, and the other Woiiiah VI" even smiles when she asks for nulnpef'
 The latter type is a joy to the telephone girl and while she makes no distinctions she fully appreciates all consideration that comes to her over the net work or wires through the long days of steady, ceasless work If she did respond more readily to the request of a gentle voice, it would be only human nature, for the telephone girl is not an automatic machine. and she IS particularly sensitive to the 1ntonatfons III the human voice. That this keen sense or hearing is developed in the telephone op- orator to a great degree Is not unlike lne case of blind person. whose remarkable mower to detect sound is increased by his inability to see. While the telephone girl never actually sees the face of the thous- ands to whom she speaks every day, so accustomed has she become to knowing their requets by the voice, that she is able to read character by the same means with which the blind communicate with the world.
 The impression prevails to some extent that the telephone girl is able to even hear all conversations that flash along the
 wires, and while this is true, she has not | either the time or the permission to listen | to a single conversation. She may inci- | dently catch fragments of a telephone con- | yersation. but every moment that she is
 on duty is a busy one, and if she was in- | ,.ifned to pause when an especially inter- ! esting little talk was reaching her ears, l her reverie would be rudely broken y the 1 voice of the hurried business man or the -! -~N.vous woman demanding a connection. | I know of no stronger statement that will | fully convey the perpetual motion of a switch board than the fact that an attempt was made to photograph a group of tele- pnone girls at work. The photographer
 abandoned all hope of getting photograph that would contain a single clear detail. l It would be more satisfactory to take a 1 snap shot of an electric fan when the full l current is on. And while this article can Continued on Fourteenth Page.)