Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-05-01

bound and labeled in other parts of the building. Before her are thousands of numbers, signals, complications, holes, plugs, flashes of tiny incandescent lights. It Is mora like . miniature railroad sta ton, with human speech coming in in- stead of trains. Through the streets, over the tops of houses, along country roads. through mists and rain come the demands of voices to be linked with other distances and to speak therein. The voice gatherers at central manip- ulate the wires, become part of the con- nsction for an instant, mutter the num- bers, then give hsed to other calls. Wire speaks to wire, signal corresponds with signal, number joins number. Electric fly speaks
 But though always speaking, the telephone girl, in a way, may never speak. Surrounded by companions. while on duty she must enter into no conversation with them, reserve all voice energy and listening power for the re- Quirements of the patrons. A telephone girl Is carefully selected, not all that ap- ply get the situations. She must have what is looked upon as good, steady, reliable voice, one that will wear we'll. not show nervous strain quickly. And to keep the voices fresh, the girls in reasonably pleasant frame of mind, the management provides, in addition to the lunch hour, recesses of 15 and 20 minutes when the operator may relax and forget Central" cares.
 The examination that the applicant goes through includes tests for color blindness, for the switchboard shoppers are marked with different colors; eye sight also is tested, as the numbers on the switchboard are in fine print; voice and enunciation are considered with greatest care, for on the telephone girls manner of reply to Q call depends no small part of the estimate the patron holds of the telephone company.
 The girl learning the business. theap- prentice. receives pay of something like g . week during the first days of her inexperience Then she is advanced to $s, and when she commences regular work she gets 3S. A dollar more a week Is about the limit for the average work CT of experience; senior operator may receive $10, a supervisor SIP. Girls who occupy the post of chief operator or supervisor may make s25, but this is very good pay, not enjoyed by the rank and flle.
 2 A student reserve is kept on hand to meet any sudden pressure of business and to take the places of those that stop work. In the Brooklyn exchange above referred to. the average time . girl re- mains is as low as two years. The writer remarks, with almost Central lacon- icness: Some resign, some have resig- nations made for them by the company, some marry and some die"
 The system in . central telephone once is most rigorous. even for this day of systematizat.on. Each central once has . manager. who is head of the busi- ness department. The chief operator has direct charge of the service. Below the chief operator are the supervisors. vho are responsible for the department, information. efhciency. of their sections of the switchboard A supervisor looks after eight or nine girls. and in her ab- sence the senior operator takes charge
 An operator has under her ere. and within her reach. . number of holes. which rspresent the subscribsrs. Diff fereut coIou indicate vhethef . wire Is in use. discontinusd- temporarily dis- continued or whether the number has besn eAanged- TAe teIepAone giri can tall at . glance the condition of the IInes u1d9 ber nAniD1la&iua-
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