Party Lines

DATELINE: NOVEMBER 24, 2010:
Party Lines

Do you remember party lines? No I ain't talkin about the Skunks or the Polecats parties, I am talkin about when you had to share your telephone line with two or three other families. That was back in the day when most folks lived out in the country and there weren't enough phone lines to go around, so folks had to share. Our first telephone in Nankipooh was shared with the Smiths, Cartlidges, and Rogers families, and you knew whose phone was ringin by the number of rings. The Biggers phone was three rings, and the Rogers was four, Smiths two, and the Cartlidges was one.

You had to listen pretty close to hear the number of rings so you didn't answer somebody else's phone, and you couldn't make a call going out if somebody was already on the line. Of course, there were those who listened in on other folk's calls, and since everybody knew each other there was very little secrets kept. As a matter of fact I believe that Grandma Biggers invented the first "Conference Call", since she and Aunt Helen Rogers, and Mrs. Evelyn Smith, and Mrs. Dora Cartlidge used to all get on the phone together every Wednesday at 2pm to discuss the grocery shopping for the next Thursday.

In those days every village was a family, and folks looked out for each other, and knew a lot about one another. Maybe this world would be a lot better off if we thought of each other as a village, instead of a metropolitan area! After all, they say the world keeps gettin smaller and smaller, and if we are all going to get along, we are going to have to spend a little time in each other's shoes.

Now that's the way I see it, and you can tell-em I said so!

Bascomb Biggers
November 24, 2010