University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-03-21
OLD FARM HOME IS MODERN NOW
Grandpa and Grandma Find Wonderful
Changes in the House Where They
Used To Live--The Cost

the flames by the big wide fireplace
and watch the logs crackle and burn
as she had pictured she might In
stead she reclined in a mission chair
beneath a glaring electric chandelier
and warmed her feet by a steam coil
The Modern Way.
John was a modern farmer. His
home typified what the homes of many
| farmers in Missouri are coming to be.
He had an electric lighting plant, both
hot and cold water in the kitchen
and in the bathroom, and steam heat
all over the house.
1T cost me the price of a good
mule" was the way John explained
to his father the expense of the i'm
provements. For the water system
l paid SIS. That is all it will cost me.
In the city you have to pay SO much
for the amount of water you use after
you have a meter installed, but, you
see, out here water is as free as the
air.
MY electric plant cost me 5000. 1
run my generator with a horsepower
gasoline engine, which l also use for
many other purposes around the place,
such as saving wood, running the
washing machine, churn or cream
separator. Would you believe me if
l should tell you that by putting on a
storage battery can save enough
electricity to light the house for a
whole week from what is generated
while We do the Mondays washing?
Well, that's SO, anyway. / wouldn't
believe it until 1 had talked to C. H.
Eckles of the dairy department of the
College of Agriculture at Columbia.
He told me it could be done and I
came back and did it."
Grandma and Grandpa Wrinkle found
that their son in the country was liv-
ing more luxuriously even than their
daughter in the city.
1T really costs me less," John said.
$50 why shouldn't II"
Electric Lights and Cement.
Electric lights were in the barn as
we'll as in the house. Johns barn was
quite a building, too. Not SO large,
but we'll made and fixed with every
Leading to it were ce-
nent walks. The same kind of walks
ed to all the sheds and houses around
he place, so John really didn't need
my overshoes to wear in going the
rounds of his chores. Or did he do
he chores?
Cement is a great thing on the
arm, father" the farmer said as he
stamped his foot upon the smooth
surface of the walk. I'VE not only
lse it for walks, but do you see those
steps to the sheds and those on the
louse, that hitching post out in front,
hose water tanks down by the wind
mill, and that big silo out yonder?
They are all made of cement.
Electricity, too-dOn't you know
hat Keokuk dam is going to mean
much to the farmer. w. L. Nelson,
assistant state secretary of agricul-
ure, told me some of the possibilities
If that great construction the other
lay. He believes hundreds of farm
,rs will be lighting from that dam,
when it is finished Well, you can
,e sure I'll have a meter in the home
lere."
While Grandpa was being escorted
,ver the place by John, Grandma was
,usy learning the inside of the home
rom Johns prim little wife. She
lardly knew whether to be amazed Or
lisgusted at the electric washing ma
hine and mangler, and she wondered
T butter made in an electric churn
ould still be called country butter. 4
Grandpa and Grandma Wrinkle
hought quite a while before they
vent to sleep that night. But they ,
idn't think of Dolly and Dan, nor of ,
he records Of setting hens. F. R. IL