Roadside Marker

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", May 1975, page 39

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Harned:

I thought you would like to see these clippings. The article is from a 1904 Magazine which tells about the troubles of a line construction company in Abyssinia around the turn of the century.

The picture is a roadside marker along the B&O Railroad which runs alongside U.S. Route 1 in central Maryland.

Incidentally, I have never heard of anyone finding any rare insulators along this stretch of track. I'm convinced that somewhere under the trackbed there lies a treasure.

I really enjoy reading Crown Jewels.

Sinderely yours, 
Matt Hauffman 
Baltimore, Maryland

Telephoning In Abyssinia

The London Daily Telegraph

Abyssinia is being provided with the telephone -- another advance, surely, of civilization. Nearly 800 miles of wire have been put up, and 1,000 more are in process of construction. It would seem, however, that the contractor who is doing the work for the Abyssinian government has had to encounter unusual difficulties. Tropical rains wash out the poles, white ants eat away the parts in the ground, and when iron poles are substituted for wood the natives steal them to make tools of. Monkeys find the wires delightful swings, while elephants use the poles as scratching posts, and often knock them down. Lastly, the jungle grows so fast that a party of men is kept constantly employed in cutting away the young growth. The telephone constructor's life in Abyssinia is not a happy one.