The Telephone

In the 1800s, people had to wait a long time to get news from other places. It had to come by letters. It had to come by horse. Or, people had to tell others the news. It was hard to find out what was going on in the world.

Alexander Graham Bell changed that. He dreamed and dreamed. He wanted people in faraway places to talk to each other. He wanted them to know what was going on.

He took a wire and put things on both ends. He talked into one end. His friend talked into the other. They did it many times. They tried many kinds of wires. One day they could hear what the other one was saying. They could talk to each other on the wire.

The two men called this new idea the telephone. It means “far sound.”

Before long, people could talk all over the country. It made them happy. They could hear news from other places. They could call to say “hello.” They could call when they were happy. They did not have to have a reason to call.

The telephone made the world a smaller place.