The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-01-28
DESCRIBES TELEPHONE
 EXCHANGE
Pupil of Waltersville School Writes In.
 teresting Letter of Recent Visit.

terestiDg Letter of Recent Visit.
 Letter Has Been Sent to Pittsburg School l in Series of Practical Composition 1 Letters.
 Recently the Farmer published a series of letters written by pupils of
 the Cockburn High School of Leeds.
 England. to pupils of Miss Moynihan's
 9th grade room of the Waltersville school in this city in reply to letters
 written by the local boys and girls in
 a practical exercise in composition and
 they attracted considerable attention.
 To-day through the courtesy of Miss
 Moynthan and MT. Kelsey of the Wal tersville school the Farmer publishes a letter written by one of the pupils to
 a school Tn Pittsburg in which quite an interesting description of the local IeIcpnOne exchange is given as well as
 some of the writer's ideas upon other
 matters.
 Fms letter will no doubt be read with
 interest and a comparison made with
 the letters from the English boys and g1rlS. In this connection it is onIy far
 to state that many of Mss Moynihan s pupils are children of foreign born l parents and not only have to acoulre
 the ordinary branches of knowledge
 put are handicapped by study in d
 language which may not be generally
 used in their homes.
 Only a short time ago eight of Miss Moynihan's pupils were invited by Mr. 3etts. local telephone manager, to wis. t 1 the exchange and the letter given to-
 day gives the writer's impression of
 that visit. Invitations for a limited
 group to visit other factories and
 places Of business in this city would be welcomed by the school and the in- l formation gieaned used in other letters 1 at a later time.
 | The letter follows:
 Bridgeport. Conn.,. l Jan. 19. 1909. Dear F'riend:-
 For some time we have been writing letters to different schools of the coun-
 try and we have received some fine answers We hope now to hear from
 you. I attend Waltersville school, room twenty-four.
 We are very interested in sewing at present. I go to a school which is call
 meaning Young Women's Christian Association. In this school there are aoout ten teachers. each one having a small table and few children to teacn. when we first start we have to sew a bag and the things we sew !ater on belong to us and we keep them in our bags. After we finish our bags we usually sew an apron. and after we nnlsh that we can sew anything we like. We do not make any dresses or things like that. but just such things which are not of very much import ance. All we sew are aprons for our mothers and ourselves: they are made of gingham. petticoats made of flannel and as l have before mentioned the bag. We enjoy 1t very much because after our sewing time Is over we have party. This party is in the month of May and is called May party. We start to sew at half past three and stop at five o'clock. After we get through Miss Moore. our principal, tells us story or else Miss Wheeler, teacher. plays the piano and we sing song. We also are having a sewing school organized in our public school. It is a very nice one too.
 I take music lessons and enjoy them much have a very large and beauti- full piano at home. My piano teachers name is MT. B. Schlung. He is a very kind man. He wears eyeglasses and looks rather old. take lessons on Thursday afternoon at half past four o'clock. l got my piano for a Christ mas present last year. Twill write no more about my music lesson as have great many more things to write about.
 I go to Waltersville school and am in room twenty-four. The attendance of our room is about one hundred per cent. a month. That is to say we are almost perfect in attendance. We must be in school by five minutes to nine in the morning and twenty-five after one in the afternoon.
 If we come to school one whole week without any absent or tardy marks. we are dismissed ten minutes earlier on Friday. and instead of going out at half past three. we go out at twenty minutes past three.
 One noon our teacher. whose name is Miss Moynihan. took us to the tele- phone office to see and learn about it. This office is called the Southern New flee a very kind man. whose name is MT. Cox. took us around and showed us all the different things. First he led us into the basement and there he showed us long pipes which came from under ground or rather under the | streets and these pipes are called l cables. In these cables. he told us l wers four hundred pairs. or eight hun l dred single insulated wires. protected | by covering. so as not to touch one | another. On the opposite side were | toll line cables. or the tubes which l  he led us into another room. Tn this | room there is a battery called the Com l mon Battery System. This is the bat | tery which gives all the electricity | necessary for our city telephones. On | the opposite side Is the battery which | furnishes all the electricity necessary for the toll lines. It is smaller than | the former battery. Tn this room was 1 a man who sat by a long table-like and on his ear was receiver. He was there to see if any trouble oc- cured any where If anyone left the receiver off after they were through | talking a red light would appear and the bell would not ring on that line until 1t was fixed. He took US upstairs and we saw wires bound up in cloth like material. These wires were laid singly on long racks.
 On the opposite side was a long board, one half of this board was the local test board by which the man could find out where the trouble was. The other half was the toll line test board. This is also for the same pur- pose. They have an instrument wh oh is called the Wheatstone Bridge. This will point out just where the trouble is.
 The man then led us upstairs to room called the operating room. Tn this room were many young ladies. On one side were ladies answerine coJIs Of o,r cifv On the other side