IAFREMON-L Archives

From:
Subject: M.N. Anthony lands in a 1905 hot spot--the telephone office
Date: 19 Aug 2003 15:09:38 -0600

This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.

Surnames: Anthony
Classification: Biography

Message Board URL:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/ok.2ADE/2578

Message Board Post:

THE FREMONT COUNTY HERALD. April 25, 1905. "THEW HELLO BUSINESS".--One of the places in town where they are always busy is the city telephone office. They are now connected with two hundred and twenty phones, thirty five new ones having been put in since Mr. and Mrs. M. N. Anthony took charge of the central office here.

How many calls do they have in a day? Some days about 700, which means a call for each minute and half of the entire day of 18 hours. One morning while court was in session they had one hundred calls in an hour by actual count

The busiest time is after supper. Men are then at home from business or work and have many affairs to attend to over the phone; for this reason it would be better for ladies to do their phone visiting at some other time of the day. It will be readily seen that all calls cannot be answered immediately. Sometimes a person must of necessity await his turn, and they shouldn't be too quick to conclude the central is at fault because of this.

As stated above the days of a "hello girl" are eighteen hours long, and very few nights pass without from one to four calls. These of course ar mostly calls for a doctor.

One morning court was adjourned and word was sent out to the jurors that they need not appear and sixty dollars was saved to the county by means of the phone.

Saturday is usually the most quiet day at the central. On that day people come to town and don't do so much talking over the wires.

It is dangerous to be around a phone during a thunder storm and business is shut down at such a time. Sometimes there is a storm in one town and none at the adjoining towns; in that case the place where the storm is raging notifies the other places when they shut down business.

It is but a short ime since the telephone came into general use, but people have become so accustomed to it that they seldom stop to consider what an exceedingly valuable and useful thing it is and how much physical and mental wear and tear, time, labor and money it saves every day. It is one of the hand maids of civilization, and one of the greatest of inventions.

This thread:

• M.N. Anthony lands in a 1905 hot spot--the telephone office by