The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-24

dead wall; or. quite unknown TO yourself,
you are switched by the young woman to
one ea, OF the monitors, who are ladies OF ma,
ture years. not possibly more accustomed
10 masculine language. but possessed OF au-
thority to soothe a ruffied temper by tact
and discretion. When the little difference
original telephone girl, who treats you cold
~ as stranger. The regulations require
OF her not to handy words with you. She
may ask for number and nothing more;
but there is suspicion that she rather en-
Joys breeze" and fingers a little some
times in conducting your voice to her SUI
perlor. That Is kind of her, as IL Is rather
trying to a woman suddenly to be addressed
with expletives of doubtful courtesy, even
though II is all in the way of business.
The telephone girl. of course. does other
things besides putting thebland query which
the state permits her TO direct TO sub
seribers without the formality of an intro
duction Actually you introduce yourself
automatically. When you lift up your tele-
phone electrically you light a little glow
lamp which Is on the board before the girl,
and ~ Is her duty to thrust peg into the
Jack over this lamp. She then finds out
what you want and places n second peg in
the jack OF the required subscriber which
Is within her reach, and the through line
being established by this link, she pulls the
trigger and calls the man for you. The
method is much easier than the manipula-
ton OF numerals on a dial plate worked asa
puzzle lock, and the little glow lamps are
tell-tales all the time. One thing only the
subscriber must recolleet-don't hang up
your telephone until you have quite finished
or you will be cut Off
II does occur sometimes that in the midst
OF most interesting and important CONVEX
satlon the subscriber is cut off by an in
terloper who calls himself Trunk" The
trunk line has prior right to every mans
tlrne 1t waits for no one, and you must
wait for it strictly in turn. And Ii Is this
fact which explains curious circumstance
that every user must have noticed-the
extraordinary change which comes about in
the telephone girls voice in the space of
second You seem to be talking to two
people at once. And so you are. When
you ask Tor the trunk, in reply TO the young
lady s interrogation, you are Immediately
switched off to the trunk room. At present
II is situated in st. Martin s-le-Grand, but
II will soon be installed at Queen Victoria
street. The record taker notes down the
time or your application for the trunk, for
IT may be that others are occupying the
line, and you must not come out of your
turn but you need not wait in the queue.
For II may safely be left to the operator,
without fear or favor-for under this sys-
tenn she knows you MOTTO put you through
TO your far-away man, say in Edinburgh or
Manchester, In absolute code order. In the
interval II is not necessary to wait with
the instrument glued to your ear, listen
Ing to the mutterings Of Mother Earth as
repeated by Dame Electra, for when the
call has ''matured'' you are appraised
or the circumstance. And no time is lost,
for practically while you are responding to
the warning the telephone girl has found
for you the other man whose number is on
the Edinburgh or Manchester switchboard.
In London. at all events, we cannot do
without the telephone gfrl-not just yet.