Hidden Treasure: The Story of a Chore Boy Who Made the Old Farm PaySimpson, John Thomas
Science
Hidden Treasure: The Story of a Chore Boy Who Made the Old Farm Pay
Simpson, John Thomas
Farm life
"Why not?" asked his wife. "In New England there are many large supply
companies who make a business of digging, washing and selling sand and
gravel and carry on a very large business in this material. You have
no idea what a hold concrete is getting on the country these days.
It's such an excellent material in the first place, and besides it's
so cheap and easily handled that any one can build all manner of
structures with it. So you see, Joe," she added, smiling up at him,
"if the farm doesn't pay a penny for an entire year, and we don't sell
any sand besides what Mr. Brady has agreed to take after paying for
the improvements that he is making, we'll still have more than enough
money coming from the sand pit alone to pay the interest on all our
obligations and leave us $2500 to $5000. I know we're going to have
something good from the farm itself, besides. So I'm in favor of not
only putting in running water in the bathroom, but building the new
dairy house at the same time. The cellar under the kitchen here is a
bad place to keep the milk and the work is very much increased on
account of having to carry the ice down there. Besides, the floor is
damp and the place has a musty odor."
"How much will a dairy house cost as you are planning to build it,
Bettie?" asked her husband, looking up hopelessly.
"I don't know exactly, Joe," she replied, glancing across the table at
Bob, "but we've been looking over the bulletins and as near as we can
estimate, it ought not to cost more than $500 for a dairy house alone,
but when we build the new dairy house, I think we should abandon this
old wooden ice house that keeps the yard all mussed up with sawdust--
besides, you have to cut from thirty to fifty per cent, more ice than
we really use in order to provide for the great waste in such a poorly
built house. Now, if we build our ice house in connection with the
dairy house, it will be better protected and the waste will be
practically eliminated. Besides, we can have a refrigerator built in
under the ice to keep butter, meat and poultry, which is something we
don't have now, the way the ice house is built. Get the sketches, Bob,
that you and I were talking over and show them to your uncle," said
his aunt smiling, seeing that she had won her point. As Bob's
grandmother passed through the sitting room on her way to bed that
evening, she saw three heads close together bending eagerly over the
sketches, while Bob and his aunt in turn explained to Joe Williams the
design and advantages of a modern dairy and ice house combined.
"H'm!" she sniffed to herself. "Joe's new wife is certainly starting
in early to spend his money for him. He'll find out it's easier to
spend money than it is to make it, and I'll be glad when I get away
from here so that they can't say I helped to put him in the
poorhouse."
XI
TONY
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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