From back in the day when not everyone had a phone! Back in the late 40s, when we moved from our house o the farm to a house in town, electricity was just being introduced in rural areas – so not everyone had electricity. And those who had “splurged” on electricity were still not so sure about loading up on a whole lot of new-fangled gadgets to go along with the electricity. Even though we eventually got on the bandwagon and had our house wired for electricity – we continued to use our "ice box – rather than splurging on one of those new-fangled “refrigerators.”
And we HAD heard about telephones – but we didn’t jump on the bandwagon and get one right away.
My Dad’s reasoning was pretty direct! Since we did NOT know anyone who had a telephone, he could not see the sense of paying someone else to have a piece of equipment sitting in your house which you would never use because you did not actually know anyone else who had a telephone!
We did have a grocery store on main street which had a telephone and they would let you use the phone if you left a nickel on the counter
However, those phones had a mouthpiece you spoke into, which was mounted on the wall, and the handle was on a separate cord. So you had to be tall enough to reach the mouthpiece, which was mounted on the wall, in order to place a telephone call. !
From back in the day when not everyone had a phone! Back in the late 40s, when we moved from our house o the farm to a house in town, electricity was just being introduced in rural areas – so not everyone had electricity. And those who had “splurged” on electricity were still not so sure about loading up on a whole lot of new-fangled gadgets to go along with the electricity. Even though we eventually got on the bandwagon and had our house wired for electricity – we continued to use our "ice box – rather than splurging on one of those new-fangled “refrigerators.”
And we HAD heard about telephones – but we didn’t jump on the bandwagon and get one right away.
My Dad’s reasoning was pretty direct! Since we did NOT know anyone who had a telephone, he could not see the sense of paying someone else to have a piece of equipment sitting in your house which you would never use because you did not actually know anyone else who had a telephone!
We did have a grocery store on main street which had a telephone and they would let you use the phone if you left a nickel on the counter
However, those phones had a mouthpiece you spoke into, which was mounted on the wall, and the handle was on a separate cord. So you had to be tall enough to reach the mouthpiece, which was mounted on the wall, in order to place a telephone call. !