The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1901-02-01
BY LONG DISTANCE PHONE.
Queer Messages That Travel Over the
Wires.

i'Considering the fact that millions
of miles of wires and half the States of
the country are included in our tele-
phone system, and that we have some
thing like 25O,QO0 subscribers, it isn't
strange that some peculiar things hap
pen over the long-distance lines,' said
the telephone man, as he leaned back
in his chair after connecting Omaha
and New York just to show how easy
it is to talk across 1900 miles. 'The
other day the papers printed story of
how bank president in Minneapolis
presided over a meeting of directors in
Lowell, Mass" he went on. 'That
was correct. enough, but it wasn't such
an unusual thing as one might infer
from reading the account of it. 1t has
become quite the regular thing for
railroad and bank directors who can't
get TO the regular place of meeting to
be connected with the meeting place
by wire; by the use of large trans
mitter they are able to hear everything
that goes on and to take part in the
proceedings almost as well as though
they were on the spot. know, too,
that the distance 'phone has been used
to close some of the largest transac-
tions that have taken place in this
country during the past five years.
"The use of the long-range telephone
for great business affairs seems natural
enough for the high charges are trivial
compared with the interests involved.
But anybody who hasn't had chance
to learn from being in the business
would be astonished at some of the
messages that go over the wires and
for which the senders pay good round
sums in the way of tolls. | suppose
the reason for this is that the telephone
is still comparatively new to most peo-
pie; they look upon it with something
of wonder and they like to experiment
with it to see if it will do all that is
claimed for it.
had last night, and which is one of a
kind that we get six days in every
week. A Cincinnati man had come on
to New York on business. He had
evidently just left his train when he
came to the phone and called up his
Ohio house. There evidently wasn't
any particular reason for it, except his
desire to talk with his family. One
after another the mother and five chill
dren came to the 'phone and exchanged
few sentences with the head of the
house. In such long-distance work,
where the charges are high, it is GUS
tomary for the operator to notify the
user of the wire at the end of each five
minutes of the time, so that there won't
be any confusion about the cost at the
end. In this case the conversation
kept dragging out and the night man
ager, who had the wire, notified the
man every five minutes, each time be-
ing met with the reply, I'll take five
minutes more The Cincinnati man
was determined that every one of his
family should hear his voice, and he
didn't care how much it cost. Last of
all the baby was brought to the trans
mitter, youngster who could just lisp
Hello, papa and then the man settled
his bill for $l0s without murmur,
feeling we'll repaid in having listened
to his baby's coo across that distance.
"Of course that's an extreme case in
the size of the charge, but in other re-
spects it isn't an unusual thing, es-
pecially with Westerners. 1t seems to
me that about one in every ten men,
whether they come from Chicago or
some little crossroads town, rush off to
the telephone the first thing when they
strike New York, and call up the wife
or sweetheart whom they have left be-
hind at home. To the outsider their
little home gossip or sweet nothings
don't seem to amount to much, but /
dare say it makes life pleasanter for
those who are interested, SO nobody
else can object to 1T.
81 remember a case more peculiar
than that of the Cincinnati man that
happened while was manager in the
Chicago Exchange. A man in the city
had fox terrier of which he was very
proud, and the dog was completely de-
voted to him. He had to go to some
place in Michigan on business which
kept him away for several days. AS
soon as he had gone the dog began to
suffer from a severe attack of loneli-
ness. He wouldn't eat, and lay about
moaning until the mans wife was afraid
the terrier would die before his mas
ter's return. One night the man went
into the station of the town where he
was stopping and said that he wanted
to talk to his dog. So connection was
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