The Spirit of Service: Recollections of a Pioneer

This is a fascinating story told in his maturity by Angus Macdonald, who was one of those who built the first telephone line from Boston to Hartford in 1883. A powerful giant over six feet tall, he is famous as the lineman in the telephone logo of AT&T since 1888. The snowshoed man inspects the lines for breaks & repairs those he finds. The blizzard of March 1888 is the worst on record for the northeast. For days all communication was broken except for the telephone between cities in the northeast. The train in the background was blocked by snowdrifts. Angus Macdonald went overland & brought relief to the cold & hungry passengers. In this logo was born the philosophy of the Telephone Pioneers of America. Service to the company & the community. Members must give community service as a badge of membership. Help for the deaf, & the handicapped, lifeline services for the elderly, keeping up parks & public places, are performed in millions of hours of time given by the pioneers. Shining through every word in this story is the deep loyalty & dedication felt by the author & every pioneer. His closing says it "All of it I saw/Part of it I was/And in it part of me/Will live forever."