country
lines, it was the regular thing, and nobody minded it at all. That was
what killed the first line out of Homeburg. It had fourteen subscribers
and every one was hitched on the same wire. For a month everything went
nicely. Then old man Miller got mad at two neighbors who were sort of
sizing him up over the wire, and quit speaking to them. And Mrs. Ames
was caught gossiping, and a quarrel ensued in which about half the line
took part, all being on the wire and handy. Young Frank Anderson heard
Barney DeWolf making an engagement with his girl and licked Barney. One
thing led to another until not a subscriber would speak to another one,
and the line just naturally pined away.

Etiquette has tightened up a lot since then. Still, we have rubber ears
to-day, and they cause half the trouble in Homeburg. You see, the
telephone has entirely driven out the back fence as a medium of gossip.
It offers so much wider opportunities. Nowadays it does all the business
which begins with: "Don't breathe this to a soul, but I just heard--"
and half the time some uninvited listener with an ear like a graphophone
horn is drinking in the details, to be published abroad later. Mrs. Cal
Saunders had our worst case of gummy ear up to a couple of years ago,
and broke up two engagements by listening too much. But she doesn't do
it any more. Clayt Emerson cured her.

Something had to be done for the good of the town and Clayt, who lived
on the same line with her, conceived the plan of letting Mrs. Saunders
hear something worth while just to keep her busy and happy. So he called
up Wimble Horn and talked casually until he heard the little click which
meant that Mrs. Saunders had focused her large receptive ear on the
conversation. Then he told Horn that he was going to burn the darn stuff
up, trade being bad, anyway. Wimble offered to help him, and for three
nights they talked mysteriously about the crime, mentioning more
plotters, while Mrs. Cal hung on the line with her eyes bulging out, and
confided the secret to all the friends she had.

Finally on Friday night, Policeman Costello, who was in the deal, told
Clayt that the expected had happened and that Mrs. Saunders had told
him about the horrible incendiary plot which was being hatched. Saturday
night came, and Costello refused to go to Clayt's store unless Mrs.
Saunders would come and denounce the villains, who were among our most
respected citizens. So Mrs. Saunders finally agreed,