Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-12-02

squeeze and I would smile again
sometimes through tears.
But today, when we reached tn
board, it was my turn to be the com
forter and it is wonderful how w
can rise to occasions sometimes.
Lillian was as swiftly accurate
and her voice as clear and sweet
toned as ever, but a glance showed
me that her nerves were worn pref
'ty thin.
You girls who operate big switch
boards know how you spot the lights
in your answering bays-each light
flashes out with a distinct and ia
miliar personality.
"Two-six-O-four," is snap.
Ply, cranky man who sounds worse
than he really is.
"Five-one-three" is a "hurry.
up subscriber, who takes the re-
ceiver off the hook and wiggles il
viciously while he yells, Hello!
hello! hello!" When you answer
he snaps out his number and be-
gins to wiggle the hook again the
next instant until the subscriber
answers. Traffic men, chief opera
tors and telephone people by the
dozen have reasoned with him,
pleaded, explained and threatened,
but all In vain.
Way up in the corner of Lillian's
answering bay there was line sig
nal for Mrs. E. Payson Smith, So
ciety leader, club woman and girls
welfare worker.
If you are a telephone operator
you know how cruel and unjustly
mean some women can be over the
telephone. They appear to have alb
solutely no comprehension of what a
telephone exchange is like. When
ever there is a mistake or failure
of service, they seem to imagine
that it is due to the operator wilful-
ly trying to annoy them.
Mrs. E. Payson Smith was usual
ly cold, naughty and overbearing,
but now and then she lapsed into
frenzied, hysterical and apparently
insane fits of rage. She never be-
lieved the operator when there was
a report that ''They don't answer"
or 1.-THE line is busy" She insisted
that she knew it was not so and she
wanted them to get the number i'm
If this dear lady had
been less prominent socially, the
traffic officials would probably have
long before taken drastic means to
educate her-she was the cause Of
more good operators resigning than
any other one thing on earth.
Lillian used to say that Mrs. E..
Payson Smith had been handed to
her either as a reward for good work
or as last resort for hopeless
case, she wasn't quite sure which.
l had made up my mind this
that I was going to take
care of Mrs. E. Payson Smiths tele-
phone demands for the day, and l
her line signal like hawk,
and every time she wished to call up
a society friend l plugged in ahead
of Lillian. Evidently the heat had
had it's effect on Mrs. E. Payson, for
she was on the rampage with ven
geance, but l didn't mind her sar-
casm so long as I saved Lillian. Just
at the wrong time, however, my
bay got full of lights. I
was busy with both hands and Lii
liam shot into Mrs. Smiths line
ahead of me.
Mrs. Smith did not give numbers
affected society drawl
which defied the transmitting power
of the best telephone ever made and
baffled the hearing of the keenest
operator Yet to ask Mrs. Smith to
repeat usually called forth something
like this:
"Such-ah-stupidity is perfectly
exasperating-you know what l said
perfectly. Please get me my num-
ber."
This time Lillian asked her to re-
peat and probably without the usual
result, for heard Lillian ask. What
please?" And there was a
clink to Lillian's tone like two sword
blades coming together.
1t was very busy and there were
half dozen lights waiting for Lii
lian's attention.
Then / saw Lillian's face grow red
and suddenly white. Her eyes gleam-
ed with anger and in a voice that
brought two or three Of us to atten-
ton like a pistol shot, she said to
Mrs. e. Payson Smith:
What you say is untrue, and it is
cruel and cowardly. / don't have to
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