Uncle Dave:    (sorry about the premature exclamation above)

. . . . ?? Yor telephone had a dialing mechanism ??!

Ours had a crank that you used to ring the operator and ask her (always a her) for the number you wanted to speak to. Unless, of course, you wanted someone on the party line. Then you would have to crank the appropriate ringer combination (eg. 1 long and 3 short for Mr. Olson down the road).