The Washington herald., 1921-03-07
THE TELEPHoNE

M AA0&sA<s
The telephone is like a. husband
or wife. It's one Of the things that
we can neither get along with. nor
without. We are miserable IL, we
have one. and utterly wretched IL
we don't have one.
There are days when the tele-
phone saves us a thousand steps.
when It enables us to accomplish
big business swiftly. when It cuts
short what EoNld be endless hours
of anxiety and waiting. when we
arise and bless its inventor and all
of it's manipulators from the prest-
dent of the company down to It's
humblest hello" girl.
And there are other days when
the telephone jangles incessantly,
when we are called away from i'm
portant work by idle people who
have nothing to do but chatter about
| trifles; when the bore against whom
you have shut your door crawls into
1t through a wire hole; when cen
| trail gives you the wrong number az
your busiest hour and you are IN
| cessantly told to ring on, as II
you were the agressor instead OF
tne NlCI1tng WHICH soo -
| loathe the telephone and wish that
| Mr.. Bell had been strangled at birth,
before he ever conceived the male
VIOLENT idea of talking over wire,
and when you arise and curse the
whole telephone system, root and
branch.
But, blessing and curse that IT Is,
| the telephone is with us to stay;
and Just at present wherever two
or three are gathered together the
chief topic of conversation Is how
rctten the service is. II say, Jones,
have YOU taken your phone out! 1
was trying to get your ONCE All Gay
| tc talk about that steel DEAL put
central always reported that noocdS
| answered"
my dear, 1 called you up six
times yesterday and Central salo
your line was always busy. 80
| runs the lamentation ending In the
chorus, Did you ever see such poor
service as we get now?"
| Now I hold no brief for the teie-
phone company. Personally. i am
convinced that they put every girl
who is an applicant for a position
as operator through the third de-
gree and only hire those who have
proven that they are stone dear
and don't understand the English
Language and to whom all numbers
look and sound alike.
But be that as 1t may. while we
are condemning the telephone com
pany for its bad service II Is wen
to reflect upon how much we do
to help make II bad and how much
we could do to improve II IL only
we would do a little team work
with the company instead of stand
ing apart and anathematizing It
And especially women could help,
IL only they could be got to have
a conscience in the matter and
realize that the telephone is for use
and not abuse.
For it is not to be denied that
a vast number of women are al.
Ifiicted with the telephone vice
They can no more pass a telephone
without an irresistible impulse to
use 1t than a starving man could
pass food without eating it.
Telephoning is with them an OBJ
session. a habit, a fixed idea. II
doesn't make any difference wheth-
er they have anything to say oil
not, they have just got to ring
somebody up, and lay one more
burden on the telephone company
and their long-suffering acQuain-
tances.
Then there is the woman affict-
ed with acute telephonitis who uses
the telephone to gossip over be-
cause II is a nice. sloppy, easy way
to visit, as II does not require her
to make the effort of dressing up
and going out on the street
No. in curl papers, and wrap
pers. and corsetless, she can flop
in an easy chair by her telephone
desk. and call up first one woman
and then another and exchange
with them the tid-bits of scandal
that she collects. 1t is incredible
but true. that there are women who
habitually do this thing, and who
think nothing of monopolizing a
telephone wire for two or three
hours every day in this way. and
it never occurs to them what a
selfish thing they are doing. or how
much they are doing to demoralize
a great public service.
OF course. women have per-
feet right to make their engage.
ments over the phone, and to use
it for every legitimate purpose
but among these are not social calls
II women would develop a civic