The "Tulin" exchange served to link widely separated farm families of the day, and connect them with medical, law enforcement and other vital services in the community. One long-distance telephone line . . . to the county seat of Concord (NC) . . . was available to the exchange. Individual telephone numbers were identified by the exchange name, followed by the number of "long" rings followed by the number of "short" rings. For example, someone with the telephone number "Tulin 24" would know that they had a call when the telephone rang with two long rings and four short ones.