brows are drawn together above the nose, and at times a murderous
glint shows in the half-closed eyes of the possessor.

"The peculiar feature about the man with the 'telephone face' is, that
he always believes the day will come when he will be able to get the
right number and the right man without being told that the 'line's
busy,' 'party does not reply,' or 'phone is out of order.' He is
like the man who always backs the wrong horse, the poet with an 'Ode
to Spring,' or the honest man seeking a political job, continually
defeated, but ever dreaming of ultimate success.

"I know of only one instance in which the dream was realized. A
new girl had been installed in a telephone office without proper
instructions--a most unprecedented case. A bookkeeper, grown gray
in the service of a large mercantile house, picked up his receiver
wearily. It rang the new girl's bell, and like a flash, she said,
'Hello.' The bookkeeper gasped. 'Is that you, Central?' he asked
huskily. 'Yes,' replied the unsophisticated maiden, pleasantly. 'What
number, please?' The old man sat bolt upright and clutched the desk.
'Give me purple six double-nine,' he said, in quavering tones, and
his weak form trembled as he spoke. Nimbly worked the fingers of the
uninitiated telephone girl, as she struck a peg in the switchboard and
quickly rang a bell. A voice at the other end responded promptly, and
the bookkeeper wiped cold beads of perspiration from his brow before
he answered. 'Is this Jones & Company?' he almost shrieked. 'Yes,'
came the reply, full and clear, 'this is Jones talking.'

"A dull thud followed, and, when the other clerks rushed in, they
found the old man lying still and cold, his right hand still grasping
the receiver of the telephone, which had fallen to the floor beside