Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-03-07
THE TELEPHONE.


get along with, nor without. we are
miserable If we have one, and utterly
wrctchcd if we don't have one.
There are days when the telephone
saves us a thousand steps, when it enables
us to accomplish big business swiftly,
when it cuts short what would be endless
hours of anxiety and waiting, when we
arise and bless its inventor ard all OF ITS
manipulators from the president of the
company down to its humblcst hello
girl
And there are other days when the tcle-
phone janglcs necessarily when we are
called away from important work by idle
people who have nothing 10 do but chatter
about trihes; when the bore against whom
YOU have shut your door crawls into it
through wire hole; when central gives
the wrong number Mt your busiest hour
and YOU are necessarily told to ''rIrg off,
as if YOU were the aggrcssor instead of the
victim; when you hate and loathe the
telephone ard wish that MIR Bell hsd
been stranglcd at birth. before he ever
conceived the mnlcvolent idea Of
talking over y wire, ard when YOU arise
and curse the whole telephone system,
root ard branch
But. blessing ard curse that il is, the
telephone is with us to stay; ard Just at
present wherever two or three are gathered
together the chief topic of conversation
is how rotten the service is. Il say Jones.
have you taken your phone out? | was
irving to get your office all day 10 talk
about that steel deal, but Central always
reported that nobody answered
My dear, | called You up six times
Yesterday, and Central said your line
! was always busy So runs the lamcnta-
/ ton ending in the chorus, did YOU ever
/ see such poor service as we get now?
1 Now hold no brief for the telephone
/ company Personally. | am convinced
4 that they put every girl who IS an appl-
4 cont for position rs operator. through
/ the third degree. ard only hire those who
4 have proven that thcv arc stone deaf ard
dort understand the English language.
| ard to whom All numbers look and sound
alike
But hc that as L may while We arc con
dcmrng the telephone cnmpal y forts had
service. il IS we'll H. reflect upon how much
We 30 To help make / had and how much
We could do t. tmpru&" i # only We
would do a little team work With the com
panv. instead 20 standing apart and
auathcmatlNng il
Ard especially women could help il
only thcv could be got ~ have "a cor~clcrcC
IL the matter and realize that the telc-
phone is for usc ard not abuse
For il is not T. 10 denied that vast
number of women are afflicted with the
telephone vice They can No more pass Z
telephone without ar irresistible impulse
% uscit than starving man could pass
food without eating i
z lnphomng i Nlththcm m ohs-ssion.
B habit, hNed iIoa II docsp make any
~ .t
ta san or rot thcy have just got "a rrl
somebody up and lay one more burden
on the tecph0r" company. ard then
long->uffcrrg acquaIrtmccs.
Then there Is the woman afflicted witt
acute tei"phorlt.~ who uses the telephone
to gossip oyer because il Is nice sloppy
easy wav ~ visit IL Il does rot REQUIRE hc
to make tht effort of dressing up and gon.
ouf on tLr street
81. b curl papers ard wrappers arC
corsrtless She can flop ~ An easy char
bv her telephone desk and call up frs
one woman and then another ard *
change with them the tid-hif> Of scar da
that she - collects Il Is incredible hu
rue. that there are who WoucF hattIt-Iall,
Do this thing and who think nothtC j
monopolIzIng q telephone wIrc for tWo Il
three hours every dAy III tins way and i
. never occurs to them Uhat a selfish thIui
they arr dong or how much they are Dc
, Ipg 70 demorallze q great public service
: OF course women have a perfect right Z.
make their q CaEsneI < over the phore
and H. use il for every legitimate purpoe,
hut among these are NOT social calls
women would develop q clylc conscious
, ness ii tins matter and make their yea
/ yea and their nav, nay. over the phone
i il would do more than any other one thin
! 10 help out bad situation
. And il would save vast amount 9
! valuable time. and mach wear and tea
{ on the tempers and dispositions o. thei
friends. for there is TO greater pest tina
4 the female telephone fIend Having gnothir
Z q do hut u XII time herself. she forget
that the vast majority of other women q
. not lead such useless lives
5 They have their housework u do. the
children 70 attond 70, a million duti,
clamorrg for instant attention and thel
is nothrg else III the world that MAX,
n woman feel more murderous than
o have u leave the baby IN Is bath
the bread half mixed, 70 answer the tel
i phone and frd on the other hand Of Il
u wire q maunderlug bore who rambles o.
Il AID on. pad oE
Girls could rot only help the telcphol
service, nut boost tHeiT own lnatTllu0Ii
chances by takiuga vow never To use Il
phone except when II is absolutely ueco
sarv Girls think they make hit vi
Young men when they call them up. ~
have long jolIyirg conversations oycr t
:. airc Never was a greater mistake mad
4 fnai interrupted in business hours Is
,bout as auiable as q sore-hcadcd bear ,ar
nonattcr how he camoufagcs lis feolirl
! he S hoping ard praying that the 2
i9 1t the other end will choke, or fall de-
before his boss catches him.
Many promising young chap has be
:. telephoned out Of good position by sil
; girls, and the nuisance has become 50 gre
Z that now IL most business houses t
q switchboard operator has orders to Gems
= - all calls for employees, and hold the sen
I mental ones over until after office hour
y 1t is an old charge that women talk {
Il much They certainly do over the d
phone. Here hoping that they Will
their part in assisting the telephone 81
{ wee by omitting about a million unn'
= essary words day
Z - |