The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1886-02-12
NATURAL GAS.
A Cosby letter From Allegheny
CITY.

A Cosby Letter From Allegheny
CITY.
OF course everybody knows that West
ern. PENNSYLVANIA is overfiowing with
natural gas, and that it is being utilized
Cor fuel as well as for light, which latter
is not yet a success. but the widest i'm
agination could not conceive the state Of
disorder and untidiness into which the
city is thrown. Our streets are all torn
Up from one end to the other with pipe
laying by the navvies, and our houses are
turned topsy-turvy from attic 70 cellar, by
the plumbers putting IN pipes and adjust
ing CRATES and stoves for natural gas.
The trouble is they stay so long with us;
it takes them from two to four weeks,
according TO the size Of the house and
number of fires used Now with about
twenty navvies at ones door and half rs
many plumbers in ones house imagine
the scene if you can. But wait-they are
through at last. Now comes the Gas In
spector, then the Fire Marshal, and after
examining things pronounce them all
safe. Then all hands fall TO work mailing
down the boards on the floors and tacking
down the carpets and trying to bring order
out of chaos as speedily as possible When
all that is through with we sweep down
the SCOT from the back walls of the CRATES
and whitewash them, then pnt a lighted
taper into the CRATE, that has been flied
WIN GfuGlD4tS. SUCH dS dIt uSGlA 4DL slucAo-
ing purposes, and with little brass key
turn on the gas. In Just about five
minutes the stones are red hot with t1ny
tongues of blue flames leaping up through,
and IL is one of the prettiest fires that you
could wish to sec, giving out a more
intense heat than a coal IRE, and II can be
regulated Just as il is desired. In the
range or stove for cooking il lie Invaluable.
One can moderate it 10 exactly the right
fhara vr-pH 10 have m ra.Ea down
ashes, to make dust all over our dishes on
the stove hearth, or shovel in coal Just at
the wrong time And in our CRATES we have
no ashes to take out and ne ed wash up the
hearths but once q week, instead Of once
day. All these benefits we have, aside
from the labor of carrying coal from the
cellar or coal house. All that slavish
work is a thing of the past; and 1 really
think housekeepers IN Pittsburgh and
Allegheny City appreciate II more than
anywhere else. Housekeepers living in
clean cities, or. better still, IN the country
and villages have not the remotest idea
what it is like TO be buried alive in dirt,
with no way ont but to dig out with
scrubbing brush and broom, for the SCOT
and smoke of this place is of a gassy,
greasy nature, that viii not wash of very
readily, but has to be scrubbed with hot
water soap and brush. With natural gas
that hard labor Will be done away with
The gas is said to cost the consumer less
than coal but, rs we are new IN the busi-
ness vet, that remains to be seen.
While possessing all the virtues and
good qualities that We have tried to show,
batuFal gas has, also. it's little vices, as
there IS no rose without thorn. Some
times on a cold morning we cannot get
enough force TO get the breakfast Their
we have TO sl1irmish around and hunt NJ
an oil stove OF something Of that sort L
make our morning coffee on. Then again
If we do not go about the lighting Of Il
very carefully, it will fash out into oul
faces It will be no unusual thing TO see
the wife going about one week with one
side burned off of her frlzzes, and thi
husband the next with whiskers o.
unustache singed of. Then another draw
back, which is literally a drawback. 1
warps and draws our furniture and crack:
picture frames until they fall apart and
are useless. We are obliged 10 keel
vessels filled with water in every room, L
absorb in measure the dry, hot air. O
course we can have the vessels a
ornamental as we desire. And last bu
least it is explosive and not always in tn
house of those who are using it, for If !
runs past your house and the pipes leal
You are Just as liable to get IL into you
cellar as not and it being odOrless canno
be detected until going into the cellar wit
light. The moment it comes in cOntec
with flame It explodess sometimes k3n
ing the person carrying the light shattel
ing the building and tearing thing
up at a terrible rate. We are fort
living ourselves with a safety lamp
but whether it proves any safer than
common one we will be better able TO tel
after the catastrophe. 1t is eertainl
/ calculated TO make one feel a little shaky
as if they were living above POwde
mine, not knowing what minute some on
will drop a spark or hammer and bloV
US up; but then, we are willing TO take a
these risks in order TO have the natural ga;