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Radio in Remote Regions
This department is devoted to stories of the use and benefits of radio communication in regions devoid of telephone and telegraph wires, and which are not reached by cable. Radio is proving a great boon, not only to explorers in the Arctic, the Tropics, and other distant places of the earth, but to mariners and lighthouse tenders on solitary islands, to distant army and trading posts, to hunters in the woods and ships at sea, to station agents at lonely junctions, and even to farmers dwelling in the midst of our country but separated by many days or hours from news of the rest of mankind. Radio Broadcast will welcome incidents and photographs which illustrate the value of radio in remote regions, and will pay for those accepted at its regular rates. — The Editors.
A Sign in the Wilderness
By SUE M. HARRISON
The story of an extraordinary sign and an extraordinary sort of wilderness. The author writes: "This narrative, while not dealing with far-off countries, does deal with the most remote region, right in our midst, that one could find in the United States. Where but in these Carolina mountains can you find seventy-five American men and women who have never used a telephone?" — The Editors.
I HAD been visiting in Ashville, North Carolina for about a week, when my hostess suggested a trip through the mountains for the coming Sunday. About four o'clock in the afternoon we passed a little school house, deserted as far as school teaching was concerned, but far from deserted as we saw it. About sixty mountaineers were studying this sign on the front of the building:
"Preaching Here Tonite By Radiophone Mountaineers All Welcome Free"
Radiophone — the latest and most wonderful product of science — here in a desolate place where there had been no school for years, where even the telephone was a mysterious thing — often unknown.
We found our way down a narrow path and came to a little spot of green, a cosy tent, and — the Moores. Mr. and Mrs. Moore are two young people of Chicago, Illinois, who are making an extensive tour of the United States. And on their way they are shedding joy and making hosts of friends, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, because they are sharing with everyone they can find, at every stop, a certain little black box. For the magic thing is equally wonderful on prairie or mountain top. The little black box is the specially-designed container for the latest addition to their complete camp outfit — the Radiophone. It is a remarkably sensitive set : they are able to hear concerts
over a thousand miles, and the telegraph reaches them from twice that distance.
Such a set is unheard of in many places, and in many others it is an impossible luxury. So the Moores are trying to shed a little of the unmatchable pleasure that radio can bring. The mountains particularly appeal to them, for there they find a lack of other amusements, and of other means for education and information that makes the radiophone a greater blessing. Toward evening they inquire for a deserted school — the more secluded the better — and they are easily found, for there are man\' deserted schools in these mountains.
A short time after their camp is up, there are generally half a dozen mountain men about the school. And of course they see the sign "Preaching Tonite — ." When the\ find that the strangers are glad to have them at the camp, one or two will slip awa\' and r^urn in a short time with several others. The mountains, apparently so desolate, are in realit\' alive with human beings, ail tr\ ing to live and learn under conditions that are most pitiful. Many get to town only once a year; man\ of the women never leave the mountains from the day they enter them as brides to the day the>' are "toted" out to be laid to rest. Imagine what the little sign on the side of the deserted school house means to such as these!
Men who live within themselves, drawn b> a curiosity they cannot resist, talk as the>' talk