The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1915-01-21
TESTING
THE WIRE

Copyright, Puck.
BY JOHN II. McNEELY.
"Hellow, Central!"
Nov, just a minute. This Is Acne.
double'six.three talking. I am Mrs.
Withbrave herself, and I want to make
a complaint about my telephone. Be.
fore I give you the lumber which I
want to call, l wish to tell you that
there is something wrong with our
wire. OF course, we do not propose
to keep paying for the use Of a tele.
phone when the service is so poor.
In the first place, l do not make over
thirty calls a day. and whenever l
am right in the middle of CONVEX.
sation the connection is suddenly sey.
cred and l am left talking without
anyone at the other end of the line,
AS you probably know. this will not
do. 1t not only puts me in an EN-.
barraesing position. but frequently
when I am attending to a matter of
the utmost Importance I am compelled
to give 1t up altogether, merely be.
cause l cannot Exchanged! Ex.
change! Can you, hear me now?" =
eyes, l hear you; but If you have q
complaint To-"
well, I was afraid that you were
not on the line, and 1 was talking to
mere space. AS l was saying. the wire
running to my phone is in an imper.
feet condition, probably, OF maybe I
do not know anything about 1t. l do
know however, that I have all sorts
Of trouble, and feel that I am justified
in making a complaint. Only yester.
day I was talking to Mrs. Babyfoot, a
neighbor Of mine. OF course you have
heard Of her? She recently secured a
divorce from her husband, who is a
prominent hardware DEALER and ia
said to be well-to-do. . Oh, yes,
she secured alimony. I was
telling her about the reception which
Mrs. Redleaf, who lives on Board Ave.
nue., is going to give. and how I had
been invited to receive. She had just
informed me that she was not even
invited, and / replied to the effect
that people who mix up in divorce
suits are frequently left out Of the
best social events, when there was q
sudden burning in my ear and my con
nection was cut OF. Now, I took par.
ticular care to call up Central and ask
for Mrs. Babyfoot's number, but !
could never get her again. I want you
to understand that this is inexcusa,
BILE. If the telephone had been in good
working order such a thing would
. never happen, and the very next day
when met my neighbor on the street
she spoke to me rather coldly merely
because Of the incident. suppose
h thought that l had hung up the
receiver while she was conversing;
but you know that l would not be SC
tnpolite. Really, l think your com
pany should make some sort of explain
alton to Mrs. Babyfoot, but no doub,
that is impossible, for a soulless cor
poratjon has no consideration for the
feelings of people. Another instance
Central! are you listening? Can you
understand what l am saying"
"Yes, I hear; but"
las l was about to remark,
'phoned my husband two days ago al
his Office and had some more trouble
with the wires. The reason l called
him up was to tell him to be sure
and bring me home ten cents worth
OF baby ribbon. 1t took me some time
to explain to him exactly where to &c
and how to indemnity the proper shade
OF ribbon, because l intended to use
1t on a new dress l am having made
by a prominent dressmaker. She is
Madame Bulwark. l suppose you have
heard Of her. She Is one of the best
modistes in the community, and has a
reputation among the social set. Well
to go back to the subject, l must
have talked to my husband for five
minutes, going into details about the
purchase, and when ne came home il
the evening he did not have the rib
bon! He told me emphaticaly tina,
he did not understand a word | sale
over the phone! You can readily see
then, that there Is something the mat
ter with u line, and 1t should BIZ
given attention. You know perfectly
well, too, that the only reason house
keepers have telephones is to save
them little trips, to the grocery ant
to the store so they won't wear them
selves out dressing every time theJ
want to run some errand and-art
you certain that you know what