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The Party’s Over - Page 2

© Mary M. Alward

Sometimes when you were on the phone a neighbor would pick up their receiver to make a call. When they realized the line was busy (in use) they would hang up immediately. When this happened, it was polite to cut your call short so your neighbor could make his call. Good telephone etiquette (manners) required that all calls should be kept short - no more than 10 minutes.

Mrs. Good didn't have good telephone etiquette. She would get on the phone and talk for hours. If you picked up while she was talking she could be quite nasty. It didn't matter that you had no way of knowing the phone was in use until after you'd picked up the receiver.

Grandpa and Mrs. Good had an altercation (argument) one day. He was trying to phone the veterinarian. One of the cows was giving birth and was having a lot of problems. It was very unusual for Grandpa to call the Vet, so it must have been a real emergency. When Grandpa picked up the phone, Mrs. Good was talking. He politely told the parties involved that he needed the phone for an emergency. Mrs. Good refused. Grandpa was at this wit's end. He waited about ten minutes, then tried again. Mrs. Good was still on the line. He asked for the line once more. She refused. He hung up the phone.

Grandma and I watched Grandpa with interest. His red face and flexing jaw told us that he was hopping mad. He thought for about ten seconds, then picked up the phone. "If I can't have this phone in an emergency," he bellowed, "You won't have a conversation."

Immediately he began to click the receiver hook up and down. Every time he did this there would be a "click-click-click" on the line. He continued to do this for a couple of minutes. Finally, Mrs. Good and her friend hung up. Grandpa made his call to the Vet.

Luckily, the Vet got to the farm in time to save the cow. After he left, Grandpa climbed into his Oldsmobile (car) and headed to Mrs. Good's. When he got home he was still mad. He never said what happened at Mrs. Good's. He came straight in the house, picked up the telephone and called the Bell Telephone Company. Within the week Mrs. Good was gone. She'd been transferred to another party line. "Good riddance." We sure did feel sorry for the people that had to share that line with her.

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