The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1907-01-23
The TELEPHONE
IN AMERICA
wonoERruL GROWTH OF a MOD
EaN isivENrIos-coulp NOT
20 WITHOUT

One Of tire Chief Things Il Has.
Brought out Is she Hello Girl, and
She is Al 10 the eood-Two Farm.
efs Who Use a Wire Eenee-ls No
Respscter oflPersons, but Levels All
Ranks-A Story That Comes From
chieaae-sermons and Speeches
Heard Through it-Tryins to Make
II Partner Of tie Phenosrap III
When Americas clock stops Ameri.
ca goes to the telephone and asks
central" what ttr!e II is. When
America is I'll. America goes to thu
telephone and asks The doctor what to.
Or. about it When America has unex.
pectel company to dinner, America
goes to the telephone and implorss the
grocer to come to he rescue. And
When America is lonely America goes
to tbs telephone and visits with the
neighGers. Some enterprfsing stats.
tics has made the calculation that
there arc enough telephone wires in
the unitaa states to loop the earth
and tlfSuoon in a sSein Of 90 strands
and mnkesa net big enough to catch
a comet in.
When the telephone was first invent.
ed 1t was considered that city people
would be the first 10 tenefit by its
facilities. but county dwellers do
things with 1t that city residents know.
not OF. In New YorF 1t costs a dime
to talk oges the wire anl requires sew.
eral minutes to get a connection.
There. az in other large cities, the
phone is used mainly Tor business ptr.
poses o. 10 make engagements, In
the country 1T costs as little as a dol.
lar a month to have a telephone with
unlimited service, und SO 1t has come
70 pass that the party line" is in,
iced M institution. When Caleb rings
up Mehltable in the northern part Of
the county to talFe over the quilting
bse Of next week they ARE both un-
common wary as 20 tho nature of
their remarks. in the fill knowledge
that the entire Jerki!is family Of five
Is listening to every word they are
saving.
She is . er.at Girl.
Aside from its practical use, the
most notable prod .ctioti of the tele-
phone era in America is the hello
girl" at the central Office. She has
been tue tlers of soag and story and
The butt Of comic papers. She gets
Christmas remembrances from crate.
ful subscribers day in the year,
and .cussi gs' the othe. 364. In the
city she is a machine. Under the all
seeing eye IT che chief operator she
pulls plugs, makes connections. snaps
busy row. or queries "waiting?" just
as a machine might do. But in the
country she chsws gum and trims her
bangs and iool:s out CT the window all
she wants to she is next to all the
ne;ghborhood gossip and has every.
body Il. the community at her mercy.
...H.| ..MN" FI|H"N .r.
Uses a Wire Fence.
1t is astonishing low the telephone
rally annihi!ates distauce. Out in
Kansas a cciin'e OF ingenious farmers
have been doing some tinkering. and
now they IRE able % talk to each
other oyce the top strand of barb.wire
fence that connects their two farms.
A lawyer id ~ Illinois town called up
the house of q clinet 1r miles in the
country and asked zig Mr.. Jones
tere?" He was tod that the man
wanted was on tie way to town.
lie a44 said: MIR. Jones
on TIE wire and said: "Mr. Jones
went by orr. house and he will
pass Mrs. Blanks lswn the road.
l have her call HIN for you?"
III u few minutes Jones, only
miles ewav. Was "lie1loing'' from
6slanlts.
lie waiting Mt The exchange for
in louisville one day I told the
distance operator Il new joke
had lrard at Il G theater the
before. That's pretty good; I
tell VIII" she said. VIII was in
Orleans at the. Crescent City toll
Dctrd: A 'nsy farmer in Indiana was
accused Of, a smali ,nisdeneanor. The
nearest justice Of tile peace called him
tie telephone. Guilty or not
guilty." a askc3 81 guess I'm gull
ty." was the response "All right,
then. I FIRE o s.. Brirs it in next
time You come to town" Thus the
m,iesty Of tae law took its way over
the talking vie.
Levels Al Ranks.
The Telephone is no iespecter OF
persons. We cay Hello t chums
or strangers or servants or .dignitar-
les of TIE highest rank. And the tink-