SHELTER 67 



now includes equipment for building with stone and 

 cement, for carpentry, for plumbing and steam- 

 fitting, for electrical wiring, for painting, and for 

 heavier work such as hauling, grading and excavating, 

 pulling stumps, and even blasting. We ought to have, 

 but haven't as yet, a forge and a lathe. When we in- 

 stall these machines for metal-working we shall be 

 able to do almost any job which may develop in con- 

 nection with the running and development of our 

 homestead. 



This equipment wasn't all purchased at once. It 

 was acquired piece by piece as necessity dictated and 

 as our purse permitted. I never, however, hesitated to 

 buy a piece of machinery on credit or installments if 

 I felt confident that it would pay for itself eventually 

 out of its savings. The concrete-mixer, for instance, 

 was purchased when we decided to build our new 

 home of stone instead of wood. It has been used not 

 only to build one house, but four houses, and the last 

 considerable job for which it was used was the mixing 

 of the concrete for our swimming-pool. This was 

 built almost wholely by our two boys, and but for 

 this piece of machinery and the tractor and scraper 

 used in excavating the ground, it would have been an 

 impossible task for them. The mixer has paid for itself 

 over and over again, and it still stands, old and bat- 

 tered, it is true, but ready for the same sort of service 

 it has furnished us in the past. 



Another piece of machinery which served in many 

 different ways was a combination circular saw, plan- 



