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
Mrs. White asked a great many questions and Bob felt sure she was not
talking just to be polite, but was really interested in the work they
were doing. It gave him much pleasure to know that the time he had
spent in reading up on farm work was producing results.
Bob's Aunt Bettie and the two girls now came out to greet their
guests. Introductions followed, and a few minutes later the party
adjourned to the house, all except Bob, Tony and the banker. No amount
of urging on the part of Bob's aunt could persuade the banker to leave
the hen house, the construction of which interested him so much.
"I like your idea, Bob," he said, "in making your buildings of pre-
cast standardized sections. I can see where this type of construction
would have great advantages in the winter, and, at odd times, when a
farmer isn't busy he can make up some sections and let them harden,
and, whenever he gets enough for a building, he can put them together
quickly. Where did you get the idea for this kind of work?"
"Well, partly from the bulletins and partly from Tony, and the rest I
just thought out myself. You see, Mr. White, the bulletins say a wall
of a building is always dryer, warmer in winter and cooler in summer,
if it's hollow, and besides it only takes about half the material.
Then, you see, there's an advantage when you want to put in
ventilation to use the hollow wall for that purpose. While Tony and I
have been working on the hen house, I've been turning over in my mind
the design for the cow barn. These hollow walls are going to be of
great service for ventilating that building?"
"Can you construct your cow barn with the same size units that you
made for the hen house?"
"Yes, Mr. White, we figured that all out before we started our dairy
building, and we expect to use the same construction on all our
buildings, even on the silo. Of course, in that case, we'll have to
make the sections curved, but Tony says that won't be a difficult
thing to do. You know, Mr. White, Tony understands drawings, and has
been able to give me some good suggestions--particularly on how to
handle and make forms. He says he started to learn the carpenter trade
when he was only ten years old, and he can file a saw or sharpen a
plane so they'll cut fine."
"Well, I'm very much interested, Bob, in the way you're getting along
with this work. As soon as you get this building up to the roof, I'm
going to ask your Uncle Joe to let me give a party at Brookside Farm
some Saturday, and have all the farmers around this section come and
see what you're doing. We'll probably have to wait until they get
their plowing done and their corn in. You know," he added, "they
didn't have a tractor to do their work for them like you did, but I've
a notion that I've made some of them jealous, and there'll be a number
of tractors running in the county next spring, if I don't miss my
guess. How'd you like to have a little help, Bob, when you go to put
up the cow barn?"
"What do you mean, Mr. White?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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