Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-11-30

were IN an operating room anu seeing
the surgeons knife cutting its way.
Those excavations were to me a vast
laparotomic operation upon the great
city Of New York.
There I could see hundreds of pipes
running In every direction. Water
pipes, sewer pipes, gas pipes were all
there exposed to view. Those different
pipes seemed to resemble the blood
vessels and the alimcntary canal of
The human frame. They seemed more
they seemed like the great long stems
of lilies lifting their heads above the
foul water of pond. These stems go
down, down. down. until they grapple
their anchoranes in the mud and draw
sustenance from the earth below And
so I could see these pipes. the sewer
pines and the fresh water pipes, run
ming through the soil and rock on
which the city is built They reached
out until at last as scavengers, they
emptied their refuse into the depths Of
the sea, or they reached out until, like
the stems OF the lilies, they gathered
IN life giving strength from the far.
away Croton hills. On this Thanksgiv.
ing day let us one and all thank God
for scientific drainage and sewerage
and for pipes which bring to us pure
water. Thank God for water with
which we can cook, for pure water
which we can drink and for pure wa.
ter in which we can battle our bodies
and cleanse our garments and our
homes. Water. water, pure water
thank God for the drinking water Of
the Thanksgiving table!
But, while thanking God for the res.
ervoirs and the aqueducts and the pipe
lines which bring to us pure water and
the waste pipes which carry away the
disease breeding refuse. shall we not
thank him also for the marvellous ma
chinery which puts upon our tables the
best viands that the harvest fields and
the orchards afford? And when I
speak of this machinery I am not only
abiding to the reapers and the plows
and the seed scatterers which we saw
exhibited Mt the st. Louis and Portland
worlds fairs, but l also allude to the
wonderful freight cars and the huge
Atlantic and Pacific steamers, with
their refrigerators and cold storage
plants. that bring to us the rnrest and
the choicest Of fruits and vegetables
and animal meats and fish and bird
meats and mollusks, no matter where
they may grow or breathe the breath
Of life.
Some people marvel at the mechan-
ism which makes 1t possible for the
farmer to SOW and reap fields of wheat
hundreds and thousands of acres wide
| where their ancestors had only a few
| acres 10 farm iris true we must
| gaze in awe at the wonderful possible
tiles of the modern farm through the
miracles of modern machinery. Last
summer while riding through the coun-
try l saw a great machine going over
the prairie where once the farmer
went swinging his scythe. This mar
velous machine was called "a CON-
bined harvester 1t was drawn by
thirty.two horses. driven chariot-lke,
four abreast. That machine cut the
wheat, thrashed the wheat, gathered
the clean kernels into bags. sewed up
the bags, threw them to one side and
tossed the straw into heaps. All this
happened while the farmer was out
taking his pleasure ride behind his
thirty-two horses Marvellous. marvel
GUS, wonderful. wonderful combined
harvester" But the benefits which
come to our table from "a combined
harvester" are as nothing compared to
those that come from the freight car
and from the steamer.
Sources Of Food.
Have you ever stopped to consider
from how many various sources our
food comes? am nearing the coast Of
Sydney. Australia. l see alongside the
railroad track great numbers OF rab-
bits strung up. There are thousands
and tens Of thousands Of them. see
the hillsides of New South Wales Gov
cred with sheep. l 90 to the wharfs,
and there / find the great steamers be-
ing loaded with them. What is the
good Of taking these thousands Of sheep
and rabbits to l.ondon:" ! say to the
captain. 1t will take you at least three
or four weeks to sail there. That meat
will then be malodOrous and stenchful
and sickening." NO. no." answers the
captain. THAT meat is being stored
in refrigerators. by running liquid
ammonia through the pipes and letting
it evaporate We can make our own Ice
on shipboard. That meat will he sold
in London markets as fresh rs 1t Is
today" BY the wonderful cold storage
system of freight car and Of steamship
we can today eat the choicest fruits OF
the east and the west and have the ten
derest of meats carried through the
Red sen and Suez canal. The New
Yorker can banquet upon California
fruits and the inhabitants of San Fran
cisco, watching the seals climbing over
Seal Rocks" in the Cliff House res
taurant may order his oysters brought
from Maryland bay. Wonderful won
derful food provider is machinery!
Machinery may bring to us Owl
Thanksgiving dinner. with caviare ship
ped from Russia, and mollusks gath
cred from Atlantic seashore. and fist
caught of Florida coast, and bread
made from Dakota wheatfelds, ant
Ohio turkey fattensd on Michigan corr
and stuffed with marvellous foreign
dressings. and potatoes planted in iii
nois. and pumpkins fattened in New
England, and mince pies concocted II
Nav JoPaav. and our coffee gathered