The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1905-09-26
BY WINNING VOICES.
ILLINOIS FARMERS CAUGHT ny
TELEPHONE GIRLS.
Young Hen Get the Matrimonial No
ton Through Listening to
Gentle Tones Over
the Wire.


Why does a prosperous young farm
er go into telephone ONCE to get
wife?
Down in Aurora recently, reports the
Chicago Tribune, wealthy young soil
tiller of Bureau county went into the
Office OF the Interstate Telephone and
Telegraph company to transact some
business over the wire. He was alone
with the night operator, and before he
had left he had proposed to her. offered
to give her everything abe cared to have,
and would take her TO one of the finest
farms in his county. He didn't want
her to be farm slave, but to be the
wife OF country gentleman. This girl
told him to call the next day, and when
he did so he found the day operator on
duty. He made up his mind that il the
night girl would not be his wife, he
would ask the pretty young day worker,
besides, there were a whole lot more
upstairs that he would try to see.
1t was ascertained that this young
man owned in his own right half sec
ton Of land that was worth 800 an
acre, that he was an up-to-date farm
er, came from good family Of farmers,
and was possessed In all OF property
that would enable him to retire in
ten years During the time that he
was in the telephone Office he asked
the kind Of questions that showed he
had good ideas about picking out
wife.
The Aurora incident is but a single
one Of hundreds OF the same kind.
Farmer boys are falling in love with
the sweet-voiced creatures who are
continually singing the same song over
the wires. Some people think they
do not have much more time than to
say hello" and busy" but many Of
them talk themselves into a wedding.
Talk is the right word in this connec-
tion, for 1t is the sound Of their voices
that infatuates young man at the other
end of the wire.
Manager Clapp, Of the Aurora office,
one Of the oldest and most experienced
telephone men In the middle west. says
there is something about the sound OF
the voice Of girl on the wire that sets
young man into wooing mood. He
says that a girl who has lived through
her teens without proposal will en-
ter telephone office and before she
has been at the board week some
young man will want to marry her."
1t is claimed that the country telephone
exchange is a veritable recruiting Of
fee for manageable young women.
The great web Of wires that belongs to
every station Of this kind seems to have
been spun by Cupid himself, and he lib
crates any who have been caught only
when he finds some one to take care OF
a good wife.
Within the last i've years thousands
OF girls have found employment in the
country or the independent telephone
Office There are lines that connect
up score or more OF small towns with
the larger towns. Then there are hun
dreds of lines that are operated by
farmers almost entirely. The lines Of
one company connect with another so
that one may talk clear across the state.
The exchange of country town some
times has all the way from 200 to 500
subscribers. A single independent line
may have $4,000 subscribers. Within
the last two months the director OF the
climate and crop service, of the de-
partment af agriculture, at Springfield,
began agitating project to send wealth
er reports to these telephone companies,
so that they could relay them to large
number OF people free Of charge In
short time he had favorable responses
from telephone lines that represented
1860 telephones In 44O towns, and on
thousands of farms.
This shows the wonderful scope Of
country over which pretty girl may
say the tender little things that sound
all the sweeter on the wire, and which
seem to have occasioned so many we'd
dings from real love matches.