The old switchboard it is no more,
And it makes me sorta blue.
Cause, while the new dial phones are nice,
They cut me off from you.
I'll miss your voice, when you "ring in."
I could tell just how you feel;
And if your world was all roughed up,
Or on an even keel.
I loved the many "little" things
That you asked me to do;
And tho I never saw you much,
I seemed a part of you.
Whenever trouble came you way
I was the first to care;
And tried to speed your service up
Tho twasn't my affair.
When you rejoiced, then I was glad;
When troubled I was blue;
For even if you didn't know,
Your voice, to me, was you.
Lila B. Call/White
What she doesn't say, of course, is that she also knew pretty much everything that was going on in CV! I wrote a post about that back near the beginning of the blog. Click Here.
8 comments:
I remember the telephone switchboard VERY well. My Mother became the night operator shortly after we moved to CV from Wichita in 1937 and made $10.00/week. After we moved into the Georgia Chapman apartments, (after living with Albert and Anna for a year) my sister and I often spent the night at the telephone office. During that time Loren Lenniton was courting Mollie, chief operator, who lived in the back part of the house. Billy (my sister) and I used to get very tickled at all the giggling going on in the back rooms. Mollie and Loren later married. I can also remember Grandpa Pate "ringing up central" and saying "give me a nickel's worth". Seems that was the number of Hankins Drug Store.?? Georgia Chapman's number was 81. The phone was in the stairwell. One ring for Georgia and two rings for the three Pate girls. Thanks, Gary, for the memory.
When we lived on the farm, our phone number was two long rings and two short rings. We didn't receive many phone calls so it was kind of an event when we did get one. You were quite careful what you said on the phone as not only the operator could listen in on the call but also you were on a party line with all your neighbors. You would heard other phone receivers being lifted when you were talking.
Dick Williams, I bet you are as guilty as I am about listening in on the party line when being out at Grandmamma Parks' and Uncle Wayne's house. I can remember Joan and I not being very discreet and someone on the phone would say "Emma Parks' grandkids are visiting again."
Remember when phone minutes were used sparingly?
Pat,
You and my sister Jo got away with a lot more than Bill and I did. We were not allowed to touch that phone.
We drove by the farm when we were at the alumni banquet this year, and it almost made me sick. The house is falling to pieces and I felt like taking a match to it to put it out of its misery.
Yes, the party lines in the country were the subject of much "listening-in", but they could be good in an emergency.
I too remember the end of the "operator" and the installation of dial phones. I believe that we were one of the last towns in Kansas to get dial phones.
Jim Hubbard and I got some old crank phones and put in a private line between his house and mine. We always knew who was calling. ;-()
Dick - JT and I have driven by the farm and like you, it makes me sick. It was such a neat home with such wonderful memories....all those Sunday meals! Several years ago when we drove by JT went into the house, up stairs, and came back with five door knobs..2 glass and 3 brass. Our son-in-law builds houses. He made me a rack with the door knobs and I have it in one of our bedrooms.....priceless to me!
It's a very nice and moving poem.
Post a Comment