telephone box had a sort of stage fright. They
felt foolish. To do so seemed an absurd performance,
especially when they had to shout at
the top of their voices. Plainly, whatever of
convenience there might be in this new contrivance
was far outweighed by the loss of personal
dignity; and very few men had sufficient imagination
to picture the telephone as a part of the
machinery of their daily work. The banker said
it might do well enough for grocers, but that it
would never be of any value to banking; and the
grocer said it might do well enough for bankers,
but that it would never be of any value to grocers.

As Bell had worked out his invention in Salem,
one editor displayed the headline, "Salem
Witchcraft." The New York Herald said: "The
effect is weird and almost supernatural." The
Providence Press said: "It is hard to resist
the notion that the powers of darkness are somehow
in league with it." And The Boston Times
said, in an editorial of bantering ridicule: "A
fellow can now court his girl in China as well
as in East Boston; but the most serious aspect
of this invention is the awful and irresponsible
power it will give to the average mother-in-
law, who will be able to send her voice around
the habitable globe."

There were hundreds of shrewd capitalists in