When the King Calls.
There is one person in England, and only one, whose calls for a telephone trunk-line are honored immediately. That person is King George.
When he telephones to the Central Post-Office in London (it must be remembered that the post-office and the telephone are one in England, as they will be some day in the United States), asking to talk with Paris, the number and exchange required are written on a card which is stamped with the word " Royal " in red. That stamp gives the docket precedence of all other calls, though ordinarily a call is taken up in the order of its receipt, and it is usually about half an hour before the busy trunk-line can be handed over to the applicant. But King George gets it at once, and holds it, not the three minutes which is the limit for his subjects, but as long as he pleases. Moreover, he is not on any account to be interrupted by an operator in his conversation.
I wonder if that is what occurs when the King of Kings calls us up on the telephone of the universe! I wonder if all other calls are laid aside, all other business at once postponed, and we bend all our attention to His message. I wonder if He has the line to our hearts as long as He wishes to talk with us, and if all interruption is forbidden, though it concerns our most important earthly interests.
King George's business must be instantly furthered. Ah, yes! but is there not another King whose business also requires haste?