Call Me Sometime

The telephone was a big step for mankind. You could talk to someone close or far away by simply picking up the receiver and making the call. Many of the first phones were set up in groups called a "party line". That meant that several families were on a line together. Each family had a signal as to which calls were for them or others on the party line. For instance, if your family phone rang two long rings and two short rings, that call was for you. If any other combination of rings came on the phone, the call was for someone else. To place a call, you called the operator and gave her the number that you wished to call, and she placed the call for you. The swithcboard operator "knew a lot of stuff" since she had to handle all the calls. There were not local secrets from her.