The Party Line Telephone
You will recall, in the opening chapter of this book, I said I would tell more about our communication network -- the Coldstream Telephone System. As I mentioned, this telephone system was a vital part of the "Marsh Consortium", and a vital part of our community.
In those early days, this system was a Party-Line System. Through this medium, many lives have been saved, romances have developed, tragedies averted, marriages saved as well as broken apart, scandals have been perpetrated, business deals made and money saved.
In case you do not already know, the "Party-Line System" meant that all the phone subscribers or "parties" were grouped together on a "line" of up to a dozen or more. Each subscriber was assigned a "ring" or calling signal -- so many long and so many short rings. I recall our ring was two longs and two shorts. Each subscriber was supplied with a telephone list of all the subscribers, giving their name, ring and line. This list could be hung on the wall near the phone. We could call anyone on our line by ringing their ring. To call a party on another line, we had to go through "central", by ringing one long and two shorts. When the operator answered, we would ask for the party we wished to communicate with. However, if someone else was talking to this person, then the operator would reply, "Sorry, the line is busy." Then, having gotten our party and finished our conversation, we were expected to indicate to all the households on our line, that we had indeed finished talking, by giving one short little tinkle, with a quick twist of the ringing handle. We were expected to keep our conversations as short as possible. We were not to "hog" the line.
Before ringing the party, one must first make sure that there is no one using the line. To find out, carefully lift the receiver from the hook and listen and then inquire "using?" If there is no answer, then one can be sure that the line is free and therefore proper to go ahead and call one's party. If however, someone is using the line, then the most courteous thing to do is quietly hang up the receiver and wait a while, before trying again. At this point, there are those who have time on their hands and an inquiring mind, wishing for some interesting gossip, would carefully lift the receiver again and listen in on their neighbour's private conversation. Very soon, this person, would heat the uncomplimentary remark, "Oh, there is that Mrs. K.G. listening in. We must be careful what we say." Of course, this is one way gossip was spread in our little community. This is the way news got around -- news of important events. How else could we learn that Mack and Isobel were soon to be wed -- it's about time. How else would we know that poor little Joe had taken ill -- very ill. How else would we learn that Thomas's Jersey cow had calved late last night, without complications -- a fine heifer calf. How else would we have learned about the barn fire over on the eighth, with a large loss of stabled livestock, including a fine team of horses; and all of the season's crops. Tell me, how else would we hear about the arrival of the new little visitors -- twins -- at the Jones's house and all were doing well. All of this valuable information would come to us on our "Information Highway" -- The Party-Line Telephone System.
There was one more redeeming feature, the Emergency Number. This was a great value to the country folk. In the event of an emergency of any nature, where help of any kind would be needed, one first had to quickly ascertain if the line were "clear", then hang up and vigorously turn the crank to give one 1-o-n-g ring. Everyone hearing this ring would make a dash to the phone to find out what had happened to whom or to what. Barn fires and chimney fires were rural disasters. Medical help was another emergency, when a doctor was needed in a hurry. We had no ambulances then. In the case of a fire, the neighbours responded with fire extinguishers and water buckets. Our volunteer fire brigade consisted of these neighbours with their bucket chain from the nearest well and their fire extinguishers.
Well, so much for our ever-ready Party Line Telephone System, and many thanks to Mary and Laura, whoever was then on duty as the "Central Operator".