.S'Kl'TKMUER, 1918 



GIjKANINGS in li K 10 CULTUUR 



seemed one niul all in liiuh spirits, and 

 many of tliem seemed to be tliinkins>' it 

 was the time of their youny lives, to see 

 the world, and do their part in saving our 

 nation. Well, as the girls strung along be- 

 side the trains of cars, giving the boys 

 smiles, the boys reached down and shook 

 hands with tlieni. It was nothing more 

 than handshaking; and I felt from the 

 bottom of my heart that it was the right 

 and i)roper thing for the girls to bid the 

 boys a hearty Godspeed, and show them . 

 their sympathy. Sometimes the boys 

 would get hold of a girl's hand and would 

 not let go I'ight away. But it all ended 

 in shouts of i)leasantry as the cars pulled 

 out. May God in his mercy bless the ef- 

 forts that are being made to keep these 

 boys (and girls also) well chaperoned and 

 protected from evil when they go to 

 fight our battles! 



As Mr. Forrest was exceedingly busy 

 with his electrical projects as well as har- 

 vesting his crops, Mrs. Forrest came to 

 meet me at the train.' She, too, seemed to 

 recognize that the responsibilities of the 

 woi'ld are now resting on women as they 

 never rested on them before; and, when I 

 was reckless enough to suggest that Mr. 

 FoiTest should drop his work and go with 

 me away up into Wyndmere, N. D., she 

 assented at once. She said he had not had 

 a vacation for j^ears, and richly deserved 

 one; and as the Manikowske brotliers had 

 already j^iiid them a visit some time before, 

 it was no more than fair that he should 

 improve the chance to visit the brothers' 

 |)lace, the place of all the world where 

 electric windmills are being made. By the 

 way, friend Forrest was just diagnosing a 

 ])roblem in wind and electricity when I 

 arrived. His sixteen- foot windmill is on 

 the summit of quite a hill. Now, his house 

 is also well up on a hillside; but the mill 

 is still higher up. His automobile is driven 

 by 40 exide storage batteries. Besides this 

 he has 30 oi- more batteries, part of tlieni 

 homemade; so you see when the batteries 

 are all stored he has power enough to do 

 a lot of work on his i'ai'm. Let me ])ause 

 a minute right hei-e. 



1 recently saw a statement that stoi'age 

 l)atteries have attained such a wonderful 

 degree of efficiency just now, ti)at a single 

 cell or a group of cells will, when fully 

 I'hai'ged, hold power enough to elevate 

 themselves six miles straight up in the air. 

 Say a single cell of a storage battery 

 weighs from 15 to 20 i)Ounds. This cell, 

 when j)roperly charged, will give out 

 ])owei- enough to raise that weight of 20 

 liounds six miles. 1 thought at first that 

 tliis nmst be an exaggeration, but listen. 



The little electric auto, which 1 have pic- 

 tured for you on page 387 of Glkanings 

 for May, can be pushed forward and back- 

 ward on a level floor; but it takes a pretty 

 good strong man to push it any distance. 

 Now, the 28-ecll storage battei-y will ])usli 

 it over fairly good roads (52 miles; and, if 

 it will do that, would it not i-aise the naked 

 batteries alone almost six miles straight 

 up? 



Well, friend Forrest has ({uite a little 

 work to do in grinding grain for his neigh- 

 bors for different kinds of war bi'ead ; and 

 this big windmill on top of tlie hill (wiiich 

 runs an upright shaft), after storing all 

 his batteries, has (juite a little idle time, 

 with the wind they have there on those 

 Wisconsin hills, especially in winter.* 

 Now, he has built a little house right be- 

 side the big windmill, and is preparing to 

 take ])ower to grind the grain directly 

 from that upright shaft without using 

 electricity. The Wyndmere people, as you 

 may remember, do not have any shaft to 

 their mills. The dynamo is right close up 

 to the revolving wheel, and a wire brings 

 down the electric current. Therefore to 

 work a mill with the Wyndmei-e outfit, the 

 power nuist .first be converted into electrici- 

 ty at the top of the tower and then chang- 

 ed back to mechanical jiower where the 

 mill may be located. I think this way of 

 carrying power loses some 30 to 40 pei' 

 cent; but gearing and belting, shaft, etc., 

 lose quite a good deal more powei-. Now, 

 friend Forrest has not got his grinding 

 mill located yet; but with the. plan he had 

 in mijul when I arrived, the farmers would 



■Before leaving this pleiasant home I want to 

 tell Yoii of another electrical invention lie had re- 

 cently installed. I think it is called a " hot-point " 

 warmer. A beautifnl concave mirror is supported 

 on a little stand, and right in the focus of this 

 mirror is a coiled wire that becomes redhot when 

 the current is on. By swinging the mirror you 

 can direct the heat toward any person or spot in 

 the room. If you have the earache it will heat u]) 

 your ear and one side of your head like a hot- 

 water bottle. I at once inquired the cost of the 

 apparatus and the amount of current it used. If T 

 remember rightly the price was . between six an-t 

 seven dollars. After some figuring he announced 

 that the current required was about what it would 

 be for eight electric-light globes. Tlie device is 

 new, but I think it can be obtained of almost any 

 dealer in electrical supplies. Right here comes a 

 point in favor of electric heating. Instead of 

 wasting a great lot of fuel in securing a little heat, 

 with this electric heatei' you can put the heat 

 I'ight where you want it, and just as inuili as yon 

 want, and no more; or it can be jnit on in an 

 in,stant when wanted, and stojiped in an instant 

 when • it is not wanted. Where the rate per kilo- 

 wat is furnished at a low rate, say fiv& or ten 

 cents, as it is in the cities, electrical heating may 

 lie cheai)cr than wood, coal, kei'o.sene, gas, or 

 gasoline, just because you can have just so much 

 of it and just wluro ymi uaiil il. and no riiorc, 

 none going to waste. 



