Do you remember how to dial a rotary telephone?

This is a serious question - recently I purchased an old rotary (dial and not to be confused with dial-up connection) phone at a yard sale. The under-30 crowd at home beheld it as if the Abominable Snowman had arrived at the house. "How does it work? How does it register the number? How do you check voice mail?" I had to admit that I didn't know the answer to the last question, or the 2nd one, but I DO know that a friend of mine cancelled all extra charges on her home phone account and uses only a rotary phone and an answering machine that cost $15 - LUDDITES UNITE!