The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1954-03-05
GLIM p ES
T H E PAS T
By CAROLYN LLOYD
By CAROLYN LLOYD

Alexander Graham Bell contri
buted greatly to the march o
civilization when he developed
the telephone, but there arr
times when / wish his ideas hac
died aborning. A telephone is ;
source of convenience, 'tis true
one can use it to call doctor
the fire department, the grocer
and the towns best source of Cos
sip. 1t is also true that it can bt
an instrument of torture, anc
thereby hangs my tale of woe
Nothing, but nothing, irritate:
land upsets me like being awake.
ened at an odd hour by the
shrill ringing of the telephone
Since people do not call at three
o'clock in the morning-or ever
six-thirty a ring at those hours
ordinarily means trouble. On &
recent morning the instrument be-
gan its clamor at $50. Racing
barefooted from the bedroom to
the living room, / mentally bur-
led my sister, her two children,
and other assorted relatives. AS
l picked up the phone, a voice
asked, who's this?" 1 gave my
name. "Oh, l was calling"
''This is $685." stated patiently
Il hope. ooh, I was calling
$685." incidentally, there is no
such number) l put down the
phone and went back to bed,
muttering a few well-chosen
words. Again the shrill clamor of
the bell. I don't remember exact
ly what / said that time; but do
remember what I said to the I'M
happy dialer the third time it
rang, and I'm just a little bit
ashamed of it. The fourth time 1
just stayed in bed, for 1 didn't
trust myself to answer. Now,
I'm sure that the man doing the
calling was half asleep or needs
glasses, that he didn't do it on
purpose, and that he was just as
embarrassed as I was irritated;
nevertheless, he put a terrible
strain on my disposition. l fin
ally figured out what number he
was trying to call and hope that
he eventually GOT.
That wasn't the first time had
had such an experience. One call
came at three o'clock in the
morning from character who
wanted to know if l were the
Pungo District Hospital; another
at five from someone who want
ed to know the price of potatoes
that week. I've never stopped
puzzling over why anyone should
want to know such a thing at
five o'clock in the morning, even
if it was potato digging season.
1t seems to me that in such in
cidences there lies a wonderful
opportunity for some optomtrist.
He could have cards printed say
ing, did you dial the wrong
number? Then see Dr-----at
once" and have them attached
to each telephone. His business
might boom and many DISPOSE
tions might be saved.
Another solution might be to
take a step backward and return
to the old operator system. Many
will remember when Belhaven
had operators, among the best
known Mrs. Phrocine Tunstall,
Mrs. LOWE Taylor, and Miss
LYDIA Wallace. They were FALL pa
tient and obliging and most peo-
pie didn't even bother to look up
numbers; they just said, Ring
Mrs. Smith for me please, and
got Mrs. Smith without further
ado. Nor did they think anything
of calling Phrocine, for instance,
and informing her that they were
going out and would appreciate
it if she would take the message
if anyone called their number.
The office was in the bank build
ing las it is now, and it was a
common occurrence for the oper-
ator to lean out the window and
call someone on the corner, us
------in the drugstore He has a
long distance call" If one need
ed doctor, all he had to do was
call the operator and she would
track him down.
That all seems very long ago,
and little quaint now, but the
telephone operator was a vital
part of small town life. The dial
system is evidence of progress
but Pm sure of one thing-any-
one of the oldtime operators,
who knew their numbers by
heart, would have known that
that man didn't want my number
at the crack of dawn. Then my
day would have started off more
peacefully with the ring of the
alarm clock.