The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-01-13
TELEPHONE GIRLS EAR.
she Astontshes n Chicago Citizen by
Her Memory for Voices.

There is a man In Chicago who relates
q curious experience. Somst!ne sgo he
had occasion to talk to bu siness 10
guaintauce over the telephone. he cal'ed
up the central office and asked for his
| friend Is plumber. In moment there
cane back TO HIS ear In soft feminine
voice the familiar murnur: Lines busy
now; please call again."
The man at the telephone WAS really
anxious to communicate with
his friend, who was valued customer,
without loss Of time. Accordingly he
called up the operator again in two or
three minutes, with the same unsatlsfac-
tIry result. This procedu re ives repeated
| several timer, the girl Invariably protest
ing In calm, even mes that the desired
connection could net be obtained,
From growing irritation the impatien
| man at the Instrument passed to CON-
plste,s though momentary, loss OF bis
| temper and he aopndly berated the girl
at the switchboard for what he thought
| was simply careless fnsttention to her
duties. 1he girl rstnrnd soft ansv er In
few worts, and thus the brief dialogue
| terminated.
This was very ordinary incident, but
the sequel, rs told by the narrator OF tie
| s orr, was surprising. "About a. week
after my colloquy with the telephone
GIRL" he said, continuing his veIaoious
relation, 81 bad occasion to take an sls-
waited railway train, ard stepped fer bali
a minute to exchange word with the
| tioket-seller, With whom 1 have slight
| acquaintance. 1t was ONLY "A word, how
ever. for there wss young woman be-
hind me awaiting her turn TO pass
| through. and SO hurried out to the
platform and into the train.
| tnha GIRL tahind ma antAred the aAme
car and took o seat across the aisle from
| me. i noticed that she was preposss ssin q
| In appearance. and neatly dressed, but as
have = gIown-up family Of my own and
have passed the age OF youthful follies,
| my glance toward her was merely ons OF
however. l was conscious that she was re.
garding me intently. She was evidently
treasured by my mature and unsssum!ng
exterior, for, to my astonishnent, she
quickly arose and took the vacant seat
| beside me. Before 1 could imagine what
was up, she tegan to speak.
Please pardon Ue for my presump-
| tion,' she said, but are you not the gen
| tlsman who had some 4 ifficuity In getting
Harrison Ninety nine.touble-nine on tina
telephone last week.
II was completely Inys.iHed. tut re-
mem bered the number very we'll, and
said l was the man.
well. she said, i was the girl at the
central ofliee. remember you By your
voice.
"You may imagine my surprise. OF
course. l was proiuss In apologies when
recovered myself bit. The young
woman, evidently regarding me as a
trustworthy, fatherly sort II q person.
then proceeded to tell me great many
things had not known about the ardu
Gus duties, strict discipline. and par
plexit,es}of life OF q tslephone-girl 5 he
spoke with dignity and sslf-possesslon,
and her earnest, ladyliks manner made
me doubly ashamed of my trivial i'm.
patience. Hut before l could again ex.
press my regret the train had reached her
station, and shs was gone. am still
wondering, however, at her wonderful
ear memory. She had heard my voice
| but for an instant at the ticket sellers
window and yet she remem bt red it from
among the thousands of others that ONE
to ner over the wire. "-Western Electri
LII