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TI AT THE FORKS OF THE GRAND the air was distinctly manifest . . . and I even recognized the singers by their voices." Bell could clearly hear the voices of the speakers even when the tones were low; but because of the distortion, he found difficulty in understanding their words. However, when he knew the words of a song, he could distinguish them; and he was able to make out part of Hamlet's speech beginning " To be or not to be: that is the question:". The experiment continued until eleven o'clock. At times the spectators made so much noise both within and without the store that they had to be asked to remain quiet. Thus did Paris become the Long Distance Telephone Town - a title it would probably have pre-empted were it not already rejoicing in the title of the Prettiest Town in Canada. Early in 1880, business men in Paris began to use the telephone. On February 19, The Brant Review -under the heading "A Prac- tical Use for the Telephone" - reported that Mr. Robert Patterson "had secured telephone communication with the station so that he could keep himself posted on the regularity of trains." And it also reported that David Maxwell, Charles Whitlaw, A. H. Baird, and John Penman were "negotiating for private lines" between their factories and their homes; and probably between their factories and the station. On June 24, i880, The Brant Review issued a "Warning to Telephonists": We have noticed in the papers accounts of deafening arising from the use of the telephone during a thunder storm. In one ease investigated, the cause seemed to be not the electricity but the wave of sound in the shape of thunder conducted over the wire. The results seem to be the same as that which sometimes follows the firing of a large cannon. This should be a warning to those who are accustomed to use these instruments during storms. On November 22, The Brant Review made another reference to the telephone: . . . telephone communications has now been opened between London, Woodstock, Hamilton, Toronto, Brantford and all other leading cities and towns to Kingston, and for a very reasonable amount parties may hold communication with their friends in almost any part of Ontario. We had the pleasure of conversing over the new line with London, and the ease and readiness with which conversation can be carried on is wonderful. Mr. Duncan, i the agent in Paris, has found it necessary to have a young lady specially to look after the telephone business. By 1890, a telephone system and an exchange were firmly estab- lished in Paris. . ( Electric Railways In June 1899, A. H. Baird and J. Stewart Clark appeared before the Paris Council and asked its support for the building of an elec- 228