New-York tribune., 1908-07-05
A CAVITY REINFORCED WITH RODS.
VILLAGE OF CONCRETE
A Fnewoof ToOCn- Modem E7a
tricaI Cooking apparatus.

A r,errber of the Authors Club had only =
Gently moved from New York City to sus
urban village He had decided that change
scene, especially change to a spot where L
sim shone across the closely cropped lawn
when the wind was not "sobbing among Ii
Mines, and the rain beating against the wfndo7
panesr-wouId freshen his inspiration HaTin
written three best sellers in two years. he ha
asptratfons- He wished to write the "grez
American novel; He had argued that the Eod
which should sum up America must be stor
illustrative of great enterprise-''the charactr
istfc of America" In order to obtain the propr
atmosphere it must be written among the rigt
surroundings. While locking about for this al
mcsphere he had discovered a freproof and nos
quito proof village in New Jersey
This village, ernbowered by pretty trees va
truly what was claimed for 1.-THE twentse
century village. 1t was fireprOOf. as all the ad
yertisernents had said. every house being Of con
crete construction. No suburbanite riding int
town should be able to read In his morning
paper, beneath staring hearlines, how the vilaa
of - was destroyed by fire the night previous
Just after the village elders. in convention as
senbIed had voted to buy a supply Of fire eI
tfnguishers and a chemical engine. The vilag
would never furnish an item Of this charactg
for the papers.
There were other reasons why the vilaa
would not be likely to be destroyed by fire. No;
only were all the houses. from the large mam
house of the great financier to the tiny cottags
of his clerk at the other end Of the street clos:
by the railroad station, built Of concrete, but
not in one of them. even in midwinter, could one
find a fire Net one of them had chimneys, fOi
there was no need for them. To be sure, The
mansion of the railroad president had struc-
ures protruding from the roof which bore al
the semblance of being mighty smoke fue2
but, in fact, these were simply imitation chin.
neys, placed on the house for the same reason
that representations of gargOyIes are sometims
placed on churches and houses
The entire community was heated in the win
ter by steam generated at a central plant ant
conducted to the houses by underground pipes
AS for cooking and lighting it was only mat
ter of closing an electric switch The ktchei
contained no stove. All food was cooked on elec
tricaI appliances resting on oaken sideboaTds
For this reason it was easy to obtain cooks
Other servants, such as mattresses, were hardF
needed for one could make ones coffee an
toast for breakfast while seated at the tabl
simply by turning buttons One Of the attrac
tions of the place to the author was the FAC
that concrete ferrybOats were used in trans
ferring the passengers across the river to n
station of the road which served the villass
''No Slocum disaster here" he had said to hi
wife when they crossed the first time TO vsi
the place. What IL II Is foggy sometimes an
there are collisions; these boats have nothing
fear from collisions. I have feeling that "
are going to find the right atmosphere for ou
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