The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-29
THE OLDEST
 TELEPHONE G|RE
Mrs. Marjorie M. Gray Describe the Telephone Service as
 it Was in 1879

The July Telephone Bulletin con- tairA the following article of interest to Bridgeport people:
 They cal me the 'Oldest Telephone Girl.'' Now it is not very nice to be called ''old," even if you are, but real ly l suppose they kindly mean the first
 woman operator in the Bridgeport tel. sephone ofices March 24, 1S79 Every thing about the business then was very primitive. Transmitters were not used and we had only the hand i telephones. The switchboard was about eight or ten feet long with a telephone fitted into notch at each position on the board. When a sub 1 scriber called ben would ilng oA.e. I have had every telephone in use and both ears busy and have found myself wishing I had few more ears We could then talk to Black Rock Fairfield, Southport, and westport.
 The second year of my association with the business, tranmitters were installed and we also had connec- tions with New Haven which was thought to be a wonderful thing. When We could talk to Boston people, we thought the world was coming to ar end.
 believe we had about three hun dred subscribers connected with the Exchange at that period. I did not have such an easy time as the opera tors do now-never thought of sitting down-my duty consisting mostly of walking from one end of the switch board to the other and shouting "Hel- To! Hellop' Towards the latter part of my service we became more re- fined, and it was Well! wellr' That was after we were connected with Boston. .--,> =
 Subscribers called by name and it was very confusing at times as so many names sounded alike I should much better. My hours were from 2 a. m.@to 6 D. m., with one hour for dinner. Holidays were out of the question. On Thanksgiving I usually had a half a day off as the manage or the bookkeeper did not care much relieve me. One thing I was very thankful for, the company never asked me to work on the Sabbath.
 The office staff consisted of the manager, MT. G. B. Betts, who is still connected with the business, MT. Will mot, the bookkeeper, an office boy and two 1inemen.
 Since then the telephone has become a necessity and the auto so useful and important that people have be- come more nervous and impatient than they were thirty years ago. The iAAON7 AASA s'SA CTS we had were s'Sharp, Rif1es.i and P. T. Barndm They had all their tel egraph messages telephoned and they were nearly all ip cipher so it was very important that I should not make a mistake.
 visited the new Exchange Building in Bridgeport short time ago and was delighted and astonished at the improvement. The beautiful building and it's fine appointments with every comfort for it's operators, including a very pretty rest room and so many advantages which were never dreamed of in the old days, were marvellous to behold I felt just a, little regret that I could not set time back and enjoy living and working for the company in 1912 instead of plodding in 1879. But thirty years have made many changes and we. take all these improvements as matter of course sapd find fault with many of them. The telephone is not a luxury today but a necessity, and we must have it even at the de- nial of other good things. Hoping I shall be able to enjoy telephone ser vice as long as I live, I am,
 Yours. @tv
 MRS. MARJORIE M. GRAY.