Evenings seem more enfeyabU at Hi* Colby hem* b*cai»« of electricity. Mrs. Colby 



twnes in a favorite radio program whilo Dad and sons Arthur (loft) and Wayne road 



with the benefit of good lighting. Daughter Shirley, 9, plays with her kitten. 



REA 



Makes Life For The 

 Colbys Far More 

 Enjoyable • 



"1 T WAS pitiful trying to get things 

 1 done on the farm without electric- 

 ity," Mrs. Henry B. Colby of Menard 

 county replied when asked about the 

 "good old days" before the REA. 



Accustomed to electric power on the 

 farm they recently had left, the Colby 

 family, including three boys and two 

 girls, settled on their new place near 

 Pleasant Plains without much enthu- 

 siasm. 



It didn't have electricity. And for a 



farmer to be without electricity after 

 he has become accustomed to it is like 

 a wealthy man trying to adjust himself 

 to a hobo's standard of living. 



Mrs. Colby shook her head as she 

 told of cleaning and trimming kerosene 

 lamps, pumping water and hauling it 

 indoors, heating flat irons on the old 

 coal stove, emptying water from the 

 icebox, and washing and churning with- 

 out benefit of electricity. 



Fortunate was Mrs. Colby and nu- 



. merous other neighboring farm women 

 that her husband, Henry, was numbered 

 among those farmers who know they 

 can get things done by banding to- 

 gether and presenting a united front. 



A Menard County Farm Bureau 

 member since 1921, Colby set out in 

 1937 to see what could be done to get 

 a power line strung out to his place. 

 Acquiring the utility himself, and anx- 

 ious to help his neighbors get it too, 

 Colby found himself president of the 

 Menard County Electric Cooperative 

 two years later. 



Opponents of the Rural Electrifica- 

 tion Administration would have a dif- 

 ficult time convincing Mrs. Colby that 

 REA is a hindrance to the American 

 way of life. 



The American way of life, as she 

 sees it, includes easier and better ways 

 of doing things on the farm. It means 

 more leisure and more time to devote 

 to home and family. 



Life on the Colby farm is far more 

 pleasant today. Why? In answer, Mrs. 

 Colby points to her pressure water 

 system, her bathroom and her electrical 

 equipment — washing machine, refrig- 

 erator, stove, mangle, food mixer, 

 vacuum sweeper, toaster, waffle iron, 

 clock, fans, radios, and last, but not 

 least, the lighting system. 



Besides, the food seems to taste better 

 because of the food-preparing equip- 

 ment, the modern stove and the re- 

 frigeration. Meals are more nourishing 

 and appetizing. Wayne talked in glow- 

 ing terms of his mother's ice cream and 

 Mr. Colby added: "You ought to see 

 the boys drink milk now that it is 

 chilled." 



None of the Colby boys, Arthur, 22, 

 Ralph, 18, and Wayne, 15, is anxious 

 to leave the farm. An enthusiastic ad- 

 vocate of farm life, Wayne asked: 

 "What do city people have that we 

 don't have right here.-*" 



With sons, Wayne (left) and Arthur, Mr. Colby shows A. E. tecker, 

 manager of the Menard Electric Cooperative, and L. W. Clialcraft 

 (right), Menard county farm adviser, his portable motor and gear 

 box arrangement for operating form equipment by electricity. 



The Colbys sit down to lunch en tasty foods Icept fresh by electrical 

 refrigeration. Kadio (on refrigerator) helps moke kitchen work 

 more pleasant. Loft to right: Wayne, Shirley, Mrs. and Mr. Colby 

 and Arthur. They plan to get a deep-freeze unit when available. 



10 



I. A. A. RECORD 



