2i 4 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



hands. A shop is peculiarly a developing affair, be- 

 ginning with little more than the storage of a few 

 tools and a place for filing saws and grinding scythes, 

 but rapidly becoming a place for constructing all 

 sorts of boy ideas into workable forms. 



My own shop was built as a wing to the barn ; it 

 was two stories in height the lower to be the shop, 

 while the room above was to be the laboratory. 

 Each room was twenty-five feet square, and the 

 ground floor was grouted. Into the shop the boys 

 were turned loose to make their own tools and every 

 way to develop an inventive skill. For this reason 

 very few tools were purchased at the outset, only 

 the material for making tools. After awhile a gaso- 

 line engine and lathe were purchased, larger and 

 better than they themselves could construct. 



Good chisels, screw drivers, grafting sets, and 

 similar appurtenances for indoor and outdoor work 

 were rapidly added, invariably homemade. Of 

 course repairing was in order from the outset. Shov- 

 els and hoes and plows were easily put in order by 

 the lads, while from the house chairs, tables, knives, 

 etc., called for their attention. All this saved within 

 a year's time more than the original outlay. 



Hand power soon proved inadequate to the needs 

 of the young workmen, and an effort was put forth 

 to use wind power brought down from a boy- 

 invented fan over the roof. It worked of course only 

 when the wind blew, and so irregularly that it was 

 of very little value to the youngsters below. When 



