Before cell phones and 900 numbers, before answering machines and voice mail, before text messaging and email, there was the telephone. Not even the cordless variety. A telephone, bolted to the wall in the kitchen with a cord that kept your conversation close to a parents scrutiny like a dog on a leash. Would you like to have a little fun this evening? Try explaining to your children what it was like and how it worked to have a party line telephone service. If you are over 50 something, you remember party lines. The wealthy families had private lines that cost an awful lot more, around $5.00 a month more. Thats like one hundred dollars a month today! I was very young when I remember answering the phone was a privilege. I would rush to the kitchen, scurry up a chair to reach the wall mounted telephone. I would pick up the very heavy receiver and say Hello with all the excitement and enthusiasm I could muster. Problem was, it wasnt our ring. Each household had a ring pattern and I didnt know that. I just wanted to talk on the phone. So the neighbor lady had to start most of her conversations with her friends by talking me off the line. Sometimes I would hang up. Other times I would click the receiver to simulate the sound of disconnecting the call but continue to listen to their conversation. Here is a primer if you dont remember or never had party lines. On the old multi-party telephone line, everyone in one direction from the switchboard was on the same line and when one phone rang, they all rang. So each party had a different ringing sequence, like a long and a short ring or two shorts and a long. The thing about that system though, was everyone on the line could hear everyone elses conversation so it behooved you to be careful what you said over the phone, and who you said it about. This phone system was also out of order pretty often because the line wasnt all that good. On the old multi-party telephone line, everyone in one direction from the switchboard was on the same line and when one phone rang, they all rang. So each party had a different ringing sequence, like a long and a short ring or two shorts and a long. The thing about that system though, was everyone on the line could hear everyone elses conversation so it behooved you to be careful what you said over the phone, and who you said it about. This phone system was also out of order pretty often because the line wasnt all that good.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 01:20:06 +0000
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