DECEMBER 1, 1913 



867 



told, ten cents a square foot, made by a 

 firm that has the machinery for doing the 

 best kind of work. 



Now about that automobile-house and the 

 electric automobile. Carrie Bell with her 

 two children occupied the seat while Huber 

 took the jDicture. The building- for the 

 electric auto is, as you see, close by the 

 front door; and I greatly enjoy using the 

 little machine to run errands for any of the 

 six families. To obviate the trouble of 

 turning around, Huber invented and in- 

 stalled a very pretty little turn-table. It 

 takes less than a minute to jump out of the 

 machine, grasp hold of the wheel guards, 

 and run it around so it will be ready to 

 start otf again. The apparatus for charg- 

 ing the electric battei-y was installed by 

 one of the grandchildren, Wynne Boyden 

 (13), the elder son of the daughter we 

 called Blue Eyes toward forty years ago. 



If you look between the buildings over 

 down the bank, you will get a faint glimpse 

 of the row of evergreens that cut off the 

 west wind from our garden. You can also 

 get a glimi^se of the big sunflower that 

 stands close by the dasheen. It got some of 

 the liquid manure that overflowed the dash- 

 eens, and I just cut one single head of seed 

 that weighed 9 lbs. 



Now 1 want to close my long stoiy with 

 something about that electric automobile. 

 It was purchased in Cleveland, second- 

 hand, and cost, as it stands, only $275. It 

 is a Baker electric Stanhope, and cost, when 

 first made, $1800. They are now offered 

 for sale in the large cities at these low 

 131-ices because they are somewhat out of 

 fashion. But what does that matter to Mrs. 

 Root and me? The batteries needed re- 

 newing when I bought it, and this will cost 

 about $75.00; but it ran all summer just as 

 we found it, and will run twelve or fifteen 

 miles very well with one charge. With the 

 replenished batteries it is supposed to go 

 about forty miles with good level roads. 

 One trouble with the electric is that, if you 

 try to run over bad or muddy roads, your 

 current will be rajjidly exhausted, and you 

 might find it hard work to get home. The 

 electric is so simple that any woman — in 

 fact, almost any cliild — might run it. When 

 you want to go you just push a single lever. 

 If you want to go faster, crowd the lever 

 further. With good roads it will make 

 about fifteen miles an hour — a little faster 

 than any horse will go ; or you can run it 

 on a slow walk if you wish. I have had a 

 great deal to say about God's gifts; and I 

 want to tell you that, with all the blessings 

 that have come to me in the comparatively 

 long life I have been blessed with, there are 

 few thing's that I thank God more for than 



this electric vehicle. It is always ready. It 

 saves my strength. It is always ready to 

 hustle things, without complaining, when 

 important matters crowd. It never tires. 

 It vei*y seldom needs any kind of repair — 

 at least wliile I can handle it. Let me go 

 back a little. 



When I was about twelve years old, and 

 electricity was my hobby, I went to a black- 

 smith and bought the largest worn file he 

 had on the premises. I had him heat it up 

 and form it in the shape of a letter U. 

 Then I ground off the file-marks and had it 

 tempered, and then I had a big U magnet. 

 A traveling lecturer magnetized it for me. 

 Then I got a little bit of pure soft iron that 

 would almost reach across the poles of the 

 magnet. This was mounted on a sjiindle or 

 shaft with a coil of copper wire around it, 

 making an electro magnet. With a home- 

 made galvanic battery, after some hard 

 work for weeks or months experimenting, 

 I had an electric motor much after the 

 fashion of the motors that now drive our 

 electric cars and many of our factories. I 

 wanted this motor of mine both to push 

 and to pull; and I got it, and was sur- 

 prised at the power it exerted. I have be- 

 fore mentioned going around to the country 

 "schoolhouses and giving them talks with my 

 liome-made apparatus. I predicted, in a 

 boyish way, what was coming. I said it 

 Avould be in " three or four years." The 

 only mistake I made was that it took the 

 scientific world and our best mechanics 

 thirty or forty years to bring it about. 

 With this explanation you can readily im- 

 agine how fervently I thank God for hav- 

 ing been permitted in my old age to run 

 errands and help the young folks with this 

 beautiful (and I should say elegant) ma- 

 chine, even if it is a little old-fashioned 

 piece of mechanism. 



Somebody has suggested that my beloved 

 auto is not exactly God's gift, just like the 

 honeybee and the dasheen, but that it is a 

 gift from our men of science and men of 

 skill. But, I ask, who gave to our scien- 

 tific men their wonderful ability and skill 

 to grasp and fashion the lightning of the 

 heavens, and to make it an obedient servant 

 to do our bidding? 



" He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." 



I have for a long time been watching for 

 some invention that would do for the hear- 

 ing what spectacles do for the eyes; and 

 although several manufacturers of appara- 

 tus for the deaf have claimed they had it, I 

 fear it has not yet come to hand ; but I think, 

 however, it is in sight. I hardly need men- 

 tion that unfortunate i^eople, who are hard 



