The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-22
the whole neighborhood can be called in few minutes.
 Women Ii.ts, +o csou.;,

Woxuou 418Cen co G0S9lp.
 That some women have ingenious ideas or tneir own as to the purpose of the telephone is evident from the stories that crop up from time to time of the exper- fences of the inspectors. One of these officers relates that one of his lineinen went into a house to inspect the tele- phone on a rural line in Adams county. Illinois. Seated in a roclking-chair, con tentedly occupied with her knitting, was the wife of the subscriber to the system.
 At first sight the lineman thought she was wearing novel kind of headdress, but second glance discovered the fact that she had tied the telephone receiver to her ear and was listening to every conversation that passed over the wire.
 Another woman wanted to go on an err rand some distance down the villaxe street, so she took, the receiver off tho hook and left 1t on. the table near the cradle. telling the central operator that if her baby began to cry she was to call her up at the grocer's.
 sAn innovation in the use of the tele- phone which promises to be the vogue is already very popular. The local grocer or butcher, realizing that time isgmoney. pays for the monthly rent of the tele- phone of any of his customers who spend s2S at his store during the month or makes corresponding, discount for a SAAoAAOA CApCAlulluTCs T1G ,IlI1QH LIaL ln the increased amount of business coming through the greater ease of transmitting orders and the reduction in his stan of order men he can we'll afford to throw in the telephone service, which further more becomes a splendid advertisement
 Fence Wires as Conductors.
 In the early days of the rural telephone the farmers were content to utilize theIr fAnPa VUfrna for Int toaA o-A in many districts. particularly in the western States. this method so reduced the cost of installation as to enable many communities to have a tolerably effective service which otherwise would have had to go without any. But the farmers are becoming moro fastidious. They now want good service and they are getting it.
 The systems employed range from a sim gle line, with from three or four to a dozen instruments connected, to compre- hen3ive systems covering entire counties and having hundreds of patrons For in- stance, in Geauga county, Ohio, near Cleveland. where there Is a population of about H,0O0. there are over 1000 pat rons. the number in each township rang ing from fifty to nearly 400. Great aG- tention is paid to toll service and the best construction and apparatus are in- sisted on as being in the long run the most economical.
 An example of the village and rural exchange Is New Augusta. Ind, with sev- enty-flve subscribers. fifty of whom are farmers. the most distant being about seven miles.
 When a single neighborhood line with a few instruments attached Is desired a switch board is not necessary The sub scribers signal each other direct by giving different combinations of rings. System is Popular.
 So easy has the organization of rural telephone systems become that 1t is safe to predict that within very few years the majority of the 100000 farmers said to be yet unprovlded with telephone ser vice will have followed the example of their more enterpriSing brethren and brought themselves within touch of civj- lization. If any community wishes to ln- stall a system, no matter how limited, 1t has only to communicate with a repu- table installation firm to receive the full est and the clearest instructions as to how to go about it.
 A favorite method of organizing is for | the farmers to form partnerships or CO., | operative (mutuaD companies for the fur nishing of service only to the locality in which the subscribers live Sometimes the service is furnished by nearby tele- phone exchanges running lines into the | rural districts.
 In some places service cannot be given by city companies. In such case the l farmers can form themselves into a com pany, subscribe for the stock on pro rala or other basis and install the system run ming a direct line from their switchboard to that of the nearest town or city ex- change. This is called the community system, the heart of which Is the small | switchboard, from which radiate in 5If- l ferent directions the line to which inc various subscribers telephones are at | tached.