These little contraptions are so simple and yet so precious. They are installed at a couple of places on both floors and allowed people to talk to each other on different floors. First you can blow into the hole to gain attention at the other end and then you move the lever and open the flap and you can talk to one other. Simple, but effective.
I remember my first time using this and I was so excited. Someone held me up so I could talk to someone else downstairs. I don't remember the particulars, but at my young age it seemed a sort of special magic and only added to the wonder and mystery of 717.
I think what saddens me the most about these little details of the house is that they most likely won't survive the inevitable remodel. I am not sure why this makes me so sad as it is just a simple contraption with no real significant memory attached, but tears come every time I think about it. Perhaps it just what it signifies. That most of what we know and love of this old house will not likely remain. These little items that were used often over the years, taken for granted, marveled at, overlooked will soon be gone, replaced by something more modern, more expensive, more showy. I wonder what these cost when they were installed and if they were at the height of new technology for communication in houses. Or if they were just standard in big houses.
I wonder if we can put a clause into the sellers agreement that says we have first dibs on anything that is taken out of the house in the remodel. Or if I can hire my cousins to dumpster dive for me. After all, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
