The San Francisco call., 1910-04-24

600. All this I had heard. and natur.
ally L wanted to meet him.
However, the man L was talking to,
who proved to be All Sing, the chief
operator, spoke excellent English, and
1 told him my errand. He was most
kind, assuring me 1 was welcome to
any information he could give.
You have little Chinese hello girls
have you not?" 1 asked.
YES we have"
May 1 see them?" 1 was trife
fearful, Notwithstanding his offers of
assistance. that he would refuse me-
He hesitated just moment, then
opened the little grille work gate and
1 followed him past the desk, through
the little glass door-behind the
screens.
Yes, there they were. Quaint little
Chinese girls in their native dress,
seated on high backed stools at a big.
imposing looking switchboard work
ing away as fast as ever their ninlble
@ llttle fingers could, putting in plugs
and taking them out again. At first
1 thought there were four; but on
closer inspection one proved to be a
boy of possibly 1S or IA The girls
looked trifie older. but not much.
They were simply dressed in their
chinese fashion of loose trousers and
upper garment, or sahm. as il is
girls. all Of them. There was not a
trace of paint or powder on any of the
three, and the one nearest to All Sing
was the only one with her hair done
up. The other two wore theirs in big,
black braids down their backs. The
one l speak of mad done hers in the
conventional Chinese fashion of many
coils and puffs with ornaments of gold
and jade. She had slim little face
that, curiously enough, gave me the
impression of blondeness-the sort of
coloring that one expects to see with !
fair hair. though of. course hers wasn't
fair it.was of a dense -blackness. Her
sahm was little more elaborate than
the others, being pale heHotrope with
bands. Of contrasting color.
AS stood there beside All Sing all
1 could hear was the constant soft
hello" hello. of the girls as they
plugged the number called for and I
wondered why they didn't repeat the
number as our own centrals always do.
When l asked All Sing the reason, he
replied:
That's because they. are not asked
for numbers, but only for names In
eight out Of every ten cases" he con-
tinued. "a subscriber will ask for the
name of the person he wants instead
of the number.
And the girl. simply answers hello
and plugs the number on the switch
poaTo SAID l. is tnat III?
Yes"
And how many subscribers have
your I asked.
'.About eight hundred" he answered
Do you mean to tell he that these
girls know the names and correspond
ing numbers of all those eight hundred
subscribers said, in amazemcnt.
Oh, yes" he replied. In a small
system like this it can be DONE of
course IL our list ran into the thousands
they couldn't do IT.
Isn't it wonderful when you stop
to consider what the Chinese women
have been for centuries and centuries
toys, the merest playthings. with not
even the mental development that
comes to slaves-how they respond in
stantly TO the first demand made upon
their intelligence. But then, the Chi
nese are a wonderful people.
This was my first peep behind the
scenes of a telephone office and the
switchboard interested nae. It's like a
big blackboard, with every square inch
covered by a number. Over each num-
Der is hole for the plug and below
1t a tiny electric light. When the call
comes the little light shows. the girl
plugs above it and says "hello." She is
then connected with the person calling,
who gives her the name wanted and
she plugs the number. -on the board
To each plug. of course. is attached
heavily insulated wire that leads down
stairs to the plant, where the whole
system is operated Those little lights
are flash flash flashing all over the