•February 26, 2020•
By Jerry Ginther
NP Guest Columnist

Gone are the days of party lines and wall phones with the hand crank on the side. Few of us can remember the days when a party line may consist of half a dozen or more persons sharing a phone line, especially in rural areas.
If you have never experienced this situation you’ve missed out on a great deal of frustration and contempt that comes with the sharing.
The contempt we shared was for the lack of privacy and access to the phone line when we needed it. Clearing the line for an important call was sometimes difficult. Whoever was on the line was on first and often refused to give it up right away. After they hung up, they would listen in to see if your call measured up to their definition of “important.”
If you had the old wall phone, once you cleared the line you hung up your receiver and gave the crank several swift turns, lifted the receiver and waited for the operator to answer. You hoped sooner or later she would, so you waited patiently. She would answer with, “operator” or “central.” You gave the phone number you wanted to call and waited some more. You didn’t leave anything on the stove, because you knew you would be tied to the phone for quite awhile, not talking, but waiting.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.