"HONEY " AT THE 'PHONE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 20, 20 May 1909, Page 37

" HONEY " AT THE 'PHONE

' Honey's ' mamma had gone to market, leaving her home with nurse. Nurse was upstairs making beds, while little Honey, with hands behind her, was trudging about the sitting-room looking for something to do.

There was a 'phone in the house, which was a great mystery to Honey when it first came. She could hear voices talking back to mamma, yet could not see a person. Was some one hidden away in the horn her mother put to her ear, or was it in the machine itself?

N Honey never f aUed to be on hand when the bell rang, and found that her mother generally talked to her best and dearest friends, laditte that were such frequent callers that Honey knew them all by name.

Her mamma wrote down the names of her friends with the number of their 'phones, and, because the child was so inquisitive about it she very carefully explained to her just how the whole thing worked, never thinking that Honey would sometime try it for herself; and, indeed, for a while she satisfied herself by playing 'phone. She would roll up a piece of paper and call out through it: 'Hullo I' asking and answering all the questions herself. One day, on finding herself alone, she took down the receiver and tried to talk to one of her mamma's friends, but it was all a failure. She watched mamma still more closely after that, and, on this particular morning, while mamma was at market, she tried again, commencing with the first number on her mamma's list. Taking down the receiver, she called out, ' Hullo !' Then soon came the answer back, 'Hullo!' ' I wants A-215,' said Honey, holding the receiver to her ear. ' Yes,' came the reply. ' Are you Miss Samer ?' asked Honey. ' Yes,' was the reply. ' We wants you to come to our house to-night to supper, mamma and me.' 'Who's mamma and me?' asked the voice. ' Honey,' was the reply. 'Honey, through the 'ptione, eh?' laughed the voice. ' Tell mamma I will come with pleasure.' Honey was not only delighted, but greatly excited. She used every number on her mother's list, inviting them all to supper. About 4 o'clock p.m. the guests began to arrive, much to mamma's amazement and consternation, especially when they divested themselves of their wraps, and proceeded to make themselves comfortable. What could it mean ? She would think she was having a surprise party if every one had not come emptyhanded. Perhaps it was a joke on her. If so, they would find she was as game as they. There wasn't enough in the house to feed half that crowd, but she had the 'phone, and she fairly made the orders fly for awhile.

When her husband came home from his office, he was surprised to find the parlors filled with company. While helping the guests to the second plate of chicken, turning to his wife, he said : ' Why, this is a sort of surprise, isn't it?'

Honey's mamma's face flamed, and she looked right down to her nose without saying a word. " ' Why didn't you tell me you were going to invite them, and I would have brought home some flowers?' said Honey's papa.

Honey, who sat right next to her papa, resplendent in a white dress and flowing curls, clutched his sleeve and said : ' It's my party, papa. I 'wited 'em frew the 'phone. Honey likes to have cean coes on, and have comp'ny.' It was the visitors' turn now to blush, but Honey's papa and mamma laughed so uproariously that it made them feel that it was all right even if Honey had sent out the invitations.

Not one went home without extending an invitation to her host and hostess to another dinner or supper, and in every one Honey was included.

'Just what she wanted, the little monkey,' said her papa, as he tossed her up in his arms and kissed her. Then turning to his wife, he said : ' Never mind, mother, she will learn better as she grows older.'