White Pine news. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1920-1923, 1923-03-25
BABBLING BROOKS
IN THE DESERT

Ne are inclined To believe that
here may be some merit in the gen
erously signed protest of a long list
of indignant husbands and husbands
to-be. comprising the bulk of the
male population of Baker, against
the way the telephone service is be-
ing abused, or manipulated in a
manner to be used only by q favored
few 10 the exclusioo If TIE many.
The gist of the complaint is that
there is SO much part way talk on
The line, days, nights and Sundays,
that it is next t. impossible 10 get =
word in edgeways in the form of a
through message. Besides the exas-
perating inconvenience to the public
at large the company in reality Is the
main sufferer. AS n remedy it might
be as we'll to remove the cause. BY
placing a woman operator in charge
of the telephone booth at Coanor's
station might only aggravate the
trouble. because then the Baker
wives and sweethearts would have a
similar kick coming, which would
only shift the argument from one
side of the house TO the other and
offer no real solution. So about the
only way out OF it would be % put
in a boy. not too big. some kid I'M
der IL. Billy Mulyihill is so cour-
teous to everybody it seems that a
great many of the newly enfran-
chised voters out Baker way have
taken his affability seriously, and in
nocently or not, the time they have
occupied in holding the line to thank
him for his courtesies and hope that
he is not suffering from cold or hun
ger in the snowstorm has amounted
TO so much in the aggregate that a
person could not get the use of the
through line oftener than once in
three days TO ring up Ely and order
a pack of cigarettes sent out in he
mex mail. So you can see how that
affects through business, cuts down
the and disccmmodes about
everybody.
"Aw. yer full o%'prunes; pull down
yer ole wire an use ii to bale hay.
I'll git a wireless and talk to Billy
all l darn please" says one of the
Baker populace.
So what's the use? You cant get
ahead of this here modern ingenuity.
AS Uncle Billy Leonard would say,
| have withheld comment ON j. NJ.
Lockhart's Ely banquet speech until
now. James NJ, you know. told us
at the big feed that Zurich and all
the rest of us have our big and little
fights, raekets, family %quarrels,
scraps and troubles. but that ali of
US were damned good fellows at that.
That reminded me. as It still does,
of the late Chris Maltesta. Chris
was a pioneer of all the Nevada
camps that ever had any pioneers,
including Tuscarora, Eureka, Typo,
Phoebe. Hamilton, Delamar, Austin,
Tonopah and a lot more. He was OF
Italian birth until Belmont stocks
went up, when he became a Neapoli
tan. But like Mr.. Jiggs. Chris never
could pull away from the old gang
and how he used to like to sit around
and talk to them and touch up the
dago red and macaroni. Chris. YOU
understand. had always made his
living by Tipping the plaid.backs
with the percentage In favor OF the
house and he knew all the boys and
several more "So-and-so is a dirty
blank blank blank" old Chris would
say. He's no good, the low down
Then Chris would sigh,
pause thirty-nine seconds, change his
voice to a minor key and say, But
he's a damn good Teller at that. y
No matter who 1t was or what was
the occasion, Chris invariably went
through that formula and never left
out so much as a comma. In the alb
sence of statistics upon the subject
only an estimate can be given OF how
many times he got OFF those same
words, and as he knew about every
man, past and present, in Nevada he
ADDllcu IL u thCht III 800 -
haps twenty times a day for S65
days for forty years.
II you doubt it ask Henry Muller
or Ole Elliott.
Once in 1907 Chris was saunterins
and lounging dreamily around h
spacious lobby of the Nevada Club OF
Tonopah, his scraggly moustache
tipped with white, his once dark hair
the same, when a 250-pound, low
browed. dark fellow bumped up
against him. listened to that voice a
minute. listened twice to hear him
cursing somebody and end up by saw
ing, Hes a damn good Teller at
that" then turning around and SHOW
ing out a mitt about twice as big as
Charley O%sterlund's. the stranger ex-
claimed:
IVY. hello, Chris; hev youse for