The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-25
ALADDIN'S LAMP OF THE
 UP-TO-DATE AMERICAN

may speak and listen comfortably without even taking his head off the pillow. Other instruments, in large mansions, are so arranged that the butler who answers the general call can immediately connect the caller with whatever part of the house the owner or his good wife happens to be mat the moment and others are so ar ranged that the signal bell sounds in diff ferent places while the telephone itself occupies the most central and convenient station.
 Curious, too. are the places in which some people keep their telephones. lady, for example, went not long ago to pay a visit to an old friend now situated in a splendid New York mansion. The room Into which she was shown was a large drawing room filled with bric-a-
 brac, and, in one corner a splendid old Sedan chair that the owner had picked up in Europe. The visitor making
 tour of inspection to while away the
 time till her hostess (who, being of the fashion. was not unlikely at the moment curling her hair with an electrical curl ing from should appear to receive her
 approached the old sedan chalr and was suddenly surprised by the sound of bell ringing within it. Somewhat startled she
 stepped back, when a neat maid appeared mysteriously stepped into the old chair and began a conversation over the omni- present bell telephone concealed within it. As the hostess explained afterward. it made perfect lovely" telephone booth, and the ghosts of its former occu- pants probably enjoyed the stray bits of
 gossip they now and then overheard be
 tween herself and a list of friends and i acquaintances all over the country. Often, too, in hotel living, the tele- phone serves as the means of bringing
 the guest some of the other electrical
 eonvenienees. Electric heaters for curl ing irons, for instance are so often car ried away entirely as souvenirs" that some of the large hotels that started out
 with a set in every room have been driven to make rule that whoever wants them shall call up the office over the individual telephone that has nowadays become practically universal in first-class metro politan hostelries And in these same hotels the electric broiler is rapidly dis placing the less reliable 'bed of coals'' in handling steaks chops and broed fish or chicken.
 In the electrical household" chahng dish parties, are. of course, conducted with electric chaflng dishes, the heat , being not only more regular but much
 safer than that supplied by the familiar | alcohol burner. But in many house. holds where electricity has not displaced either the coal or gas stove the electric oven has become extremely popular The advantage of the electric oven is that it heats up quickly and maintains perfect ly uniform heat; to cook a pie or bake
 loaf of bread takes just so long every day in the week and there's no opening of the oven door to see if there's any thing doing inside the oven with conse- i quent despair if there's nothing doing
 or if the stove has got too busy and
 done altogether too much Or in this
 same partly electrified household one may
 find that an electric lighter with a small
 portable battery, is being used to light
 the gas or that a small electric search
 light is taking the place of any other form of illumination when the mistress of
 the house wishes to find something way
 back in the pantry or linen closet Clocks also are now made to keep time by elee-
 tricity and the smallest member of the
 family may likewise thank Benjamin Franklin for discovering a substance that
 warns the milk bottle almost quicker
 than one can get thlrtsy. to say nothing
 of providing a remarkably neat and com
 fortable substitute for the old-fashioned
 hot water bag
 The electrical household, of course, is found only in those places where the use
 of electric light supplies immediate con nection with the great fund of electricity.
 You can fasten an electric stove to the telephone, although if that were possible it's safe to say that the domestic uses of electricity would be much more pre- valent among the millions of persons who
 nowadays find the telephone indispen- pensable.