The Tupelo journal., 1905-08-18
BY MARGARET E sANGsTER.

BY MARGARET E. SANGSTER.
Downright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowlesl
Undoubtedly the telephone is a great
convenience. Whoever has had it in
the house would sacrifice many lux
uries rather than so without it. Time
and strength and letter-writing and
kilograms, and all sorts of minor dis
comforts are saved us by this weird
continuance on the wall, this mysteri-
Gus tube into which we speak; this
odd receiver which brings us voices
from afar. We want to talk with a
friend, to ask after her sick husband,
or about her absent son; we are con-
fronted by an emergency and Obliged
to leave home suddenly, or unexpect-
ed guests arrive, and the dinner must
be nicer, with an added course or tWo
in every case the telephone IS our
friend. Certainly we should hate 10
do without it, this Ink that through
the power OF applied science binds US
closer to our comrades on the road.
1t is a great convenience, and to some
of US an indispensable necessity.
Take for example the woalan's
club. How on eartn could a club
president. or secretary, or the cialr-
man Of an import2at committee, get
on and manage her work ana COM
municate with her fellow memDc;s if
there were not the telephone? Every
body knows that a club, however small.
finds opportunity for endless discussion
and arrangement and Encouragement,
at other times than when in session.
The telephone makes this conference
possible and easy; it is a boon Of boons
to the club woman.
Once in a personal experience, cnce
only, and the incident lives in mem
DRY as startling, the telephone was
found successful in reducing the
amount of an exoroitant gas bill!
Householders know how difficult an
enterprise this is, how seldom accom-
plished. On previous occasions letters
had proved abortive, and interviews
had found officials adamant. but the
talk over the telephone. a party wire
at that. proved Immediately reass6r-
ing. The percentage asked for was
granted, the obnoxious bill was re-
Guced to its rightful proportions.
II you want a doctor N the dead OF
night, it is not now needful for the
man of the house to dress and go hasti-
ly oct in the cold and darkness; the
telephone sill ring a signal at tn
Doctors head, and lie will rise from
his bed, tell you what to do. or come
himself in half the time it used to
take to get him to tlG patient. When
there is sudden illness in the home,
you cry blessings on the telephone,
and they are heartfelt.
~
And yet, it has it's drawbacks. There
is a tyranny Of the telephone that has
done something to make life less Sim
pie than it used to be. There are
moods in which one wishes she had
never seen, never heard, never touched
or handled the little affair which has
done more than any other single agent
to rob life of privacy and independ-
ence.
We have often heard that a mans
house is his castle. 1t is, and it isn't.
1t depends on whether he has a tele-
phone.
You may bolt, you may bar, you may
lock at your will,
But the telephone demon will pounce
on you still.
No shutters exclude him, no key keeps
him back,
At the sound of the bell, he is here on
your track.
To cut Off the service is the only
way to exorcise the invisible imp WHO
di5turbs you at your meals, breaks in
Oh your prayers, and demands an in
slant answer to his with a
peremptOry haste, not unlike the old
challenge of the footpad on Hounslow
Heath: Your money or your life!"
For instance:
You have decided to spend a day in
quiet retirement. withdrawn from he
world and its cares. You have planned
to admit nobody; you wish to rest
to relax, to let life's fiood-tide refresh
you, since too much work, too much
talk, too much distraction of business
has brought your powers to the ebb.
In vain is your planning and precau-
ton. The telephone rings and you
take down your receiver.
Aunt Frances, Uncle Jonathan and
the children are on their way to spend
the day with you. They have Just de-
cided that they can come to-day, and
will be with you about noon. Now
you love your kinsfolk, and Johns,
too. You like Aunt Frances better
thar n other of Johns aunts, and
Uncle Jonathan is an "old dear" The
children are Objectionable when you
have a headache and are tired; they
are stirring children, always on the
rampage; always meddling; not well
trained. or well-bred, and you would
willingly omit them from the pro-
gramme, but Aunt Frances is a devoted
mother, who never leaves her brood
at home.
To put them off for a day would
give offense, be misunderstood, and
hurt John, who is most loyal to ais
own people, and always delighted to
have them under his roof. Therefore
you fly around, dust chairs and tables
get out the best china, make a salad
order ice cream, and slip into a fresh
and dainty frock. No time to relax
till Jonathan and Frances shall depart
But for the telephone they would have
notified you via Uncle Sans mail, and
you would have had your rest day as
~..-L have If without