A hundred years ago, the telephone had become an essential part of American life, and the public had come to take it for granted as part of their normal business and social lives, as well as relying upon it in emergencies.

But The Telephone Company and its workers didn’t take it for granted. Despite fire or storm or flood, the telephone operator stuck to her switchboard. And the lineman and a quarter million employees risked life, limb, and even health to make sure that messages continued to go through.

All the public had to do for all of this was to pay the moderate cost.

This ad appeared in the February 1924 issue of Boys’ Life.