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The Party’s Over

© Mary M. Alward

Can you imagine sharing a telephone line with up to ten different families? That's what early telephone users did. Why? Because the stringing of telephone lines were expensive. Not many people could afford the private lines that we enjoy today.

When I was growing up in the 1950's, we had a party line. We shared it with six of our neighbors. Most respected our privacy. One lady, I'll call her Mrs. Good, was an eavesdropper (listened on the line.) Every time the phone rang, she carefully picked up her receiver and listened in.

When the phone rang on a party line, it rings in everyone's house. Each family had its own ring. This was called "coded ringing." Our ring was two longs. My grandparent's, (they lived next door) ring was one long and two shorts. When the phone rang, everyone listened carefully to the rings. That is how they knew if the call was for them.

Mrs. Good enjoyed listening to her neighbor's conversations. She was nosy. She'd pick up her receiver, hoping no avoid detection (anyone knowing.) The thing was, when someone picked up their receiver, there was a "click" on the line. The phone volume was reduced when someone was listening.

We tried all kinds of tricks to keep Mrs. Good from eavesdropping. When Mom and Grandma talked, they would let Mrs. Good know that they were aware she had tuned in to their conversation. Mrs. Good was not only an eavesdropper, she was a gossip. If she heard something interesting, the entire community would know within hours.

I remember one incident when a business call came in for Dad. We heard him say, "Someone is listening. Could you please hang up?"

Mrs. Good didn't hang up. Dad told his caller that he would meet with him the next day at this office. He hung up the phone, put on his boots, coat and hat and headed out the door. He jumped in his truck and headed out. He drove straight to Mrs. Good's house. I don't know what he said to her, but I can imagine. You got out of Dad's way when he was angry. After that, Mrs. Good never listened in on our calls. I believe she continued to listen to the conversations of others on the party line.

The rule of thumb on a party line was to never say anything that you wanted to keep private. It seems that every party line had a "Mrs. Good" - a nosy busybody who listened in to private conversations.