Ear Dropper

Background

Early in the nineteenth century, all telephones were on a private line.  That is, one line extended from the telephone office to one phone.  This satisfied the people who lived close to the telephone office.  However a large portion of the population lived in the suburbs or on farms. So, the telephone companies started selling telephone service on party lines. A party line was a single line but with a multiple number of subscribers located along the party line.  (This number was usually five or six). Everyone was happy.  New telephone customers could now enjoy telephone service at a reasonable cost.  “Ma Bell” was happy because business increased.

However, there were a few problems that developed.

First. Whenever a phone call was placed for any subscribers on the party line, all of the other phones on that party line would ring.  So there was some confusion about whom the call was intended.  That was solved by assigning each phone on the line with a different number of rings.  Phone #1 received 1 ring; phone #2 received 2 rings etc.  However, this required all the subscribers to count the number of rings for each call.  Also, this wrecked havoc for subscribers that enjoyed a daily nap or for calls that occurred during the night.

Second. When the party line was already in use, if any of the other subscribers to that line picked up their own phone they could hear and participate in the conversation.  For many, this was a cultural fixture of rural areas and was frequently used as a source of entertainment and gossip as well as a means of quickly alerting entire neighborhoods in case of emergencies.  For others, this was nothing but eavesdropping heaven.  Any secret told on the party line would just as well be published in the local weekly newspaper.

With the above background, let me tell you a story of my Aunt Tilley who was a subscriber on a five subscriber Party Line.  Each time she heard the correct number of rings and answered the phone, she could hear in the background four faint clicks that indicated all four of the remaining subscribers had lifted their phone and wanted to hear the latest news involving Aunt Tilley.  When this occurred, Aunt Tilley would say rather forcefully. “Please get off the line, you know this call is not for you.”

One afternoon, my mom and I were visiting Aunt Tilley when the phone rang.  Immediately after she had said hello, she could hear the four clicks.  Before she could say a word, Aunt Tilley’s youngest fifteen year old grand daughter started crying and saying she was in terrible trouble.  She then announced that she was afraid she was pregnant.  At this time Aunt Tilley could hear four gasps in the background and she lost it.

“You damnable eardroppers” she screamed.  (She meant to say eavesdroppers but was so angry she couldn’t remember the word).  “If one word of this call becomes public, I’m coming after each one of you and you will suffer.  I know who you are and where you live.”  In the background she heard four clicks.

It was a sad moment, but in the future it became a family joke.  The little naive granddaughter had allowed her first boy friend to kiss her and thought that caused pregnancy.  Don’t Believe this?  Remember this occurred in the early 1900’s.  The word eardropper became a standard in our family.