T H K, KUKA.U. NEW-YUKKEK 
635 
The Pleasures of a Heated House 
Disadvantages Feared. —Wo are on- 
i,,\infj; this Winter our first experiences 
with a furnace-heated house. Some of 
the sensations were expected, others were 
•i decided surprise. We had talked about 
it for years, asked questions by the score 
,,f friends and neighbors who had pre¬ 
viously installed, and heard all kinds of 
reports. Some seemed rather discourag¬ 
ing to us. The coal bills we heard of 
seemed enormous; the men said the cel¬ 
lars were so warm that potatoes and ap¬ 
ples spoiled, and worst of all it was 
claimed that a heated house made people 
delicate, tender, and susceptible to colds. 
Coat. Bills. —However, we took the 
plunge last Summer, willing to risk a 
good deal if we could have a comfortable 
liveable house during the Winter without 
using two double heaters, a chunk stove, 
two fireplaces, and two oil stoves in 
'■mergencies. besides the kitchen range. 
It kept one person busy to mind all those, 
without mentioning the dirt, dust and 
constant danger of lire from an over¬ 
heated stove. Now for results. Our coal 
hill for (lie furnace alone was: 
Stove coal. 19,650 pounds.$59.91 
l*ea coal. 5.340 pounds. IP.01 
Total .$71.92 
This heated eight large high-ceiling rooms 
and two big halls—doors open all 
through the house. It is difficult to com¬ 
pare this with former heating records, 
because coal is burned in the kitchen all 
year, and the two were never kept sep¬ 
arate. It averaged about $75, and only 
three rooms besides the kitchen could bo 
heated without untold effort. 
The Cellar. —The furnace was placed 
iu one corner of the cellar and enclosed 
with a hollow tile wall—plastered both 
sides. This room is always warm—72 
deg. or more. In the remaining cellar 
the windows are opened and the temper¬ 
ature drops amazingly—getting so cold 
that we are forced to close them in order 
to hold the heat in the rooms above. We 
had barrels of apples stored there all 
Winter and we still have (April 1st) 
apples that are keeping iu good condi¬ 
tion. Potatoes have not sprouted. 
Canned fruit and vegetables have kept 
perfectly. 
Health A nd Comfort.—A s for health, 
not one of our family of five has had 
even a cold all Winter, when formerly 
colds, coughs and grippe were constant 
occurences. This is due to better ventil¬ 
ating without the necessity of cold drafts, 
warmer floors and warm dry beds. In 
previous years' during a “January thaw” 
our stone walls would “sweat” and al¬ 
most run with water. Ai / room not very 
well heated would be like a vault, and 
wall paper was constantly mildewing. In 
contrast to this our efforts are now to 
keep some moisture in the air by placing 
pans of water on the top of the furnace 
and other places over the house. We 
were simply appalled after the first few 
weeks to see how even old houses and 
antique furniture can dry and shrink and 
crack. We had to change our ‘ideas of 
house plants, for Oxalis and the various 
ferns that did well in a cool moist at¬ 
mosphere are a failure in window sills 
over a lint dry radiator. 
Avoiding Dt*ST.—As in most oM 
houses our cellar is not ceiled; in conse¬ 
quence the dirt and dust came up into 
the rooms above in clouds until we 
learned how to manage. Very convenient 
to the furnace is a water pipe with a 
faucet. Before the ashes are scraped 
from the ash box a bucket of water is 
tossed over them. They are usually car¬ 
ried from the cellar once a week and the 
pile is soaked before handling. Coal, es¬ 
pecially pea size must be well watered 
before shoveling into the cellar. 
The Heating System. —Our heating 
system is called the vapor or eompressure 
steam system. It uses the same boiler 
and similar piping to the ordinary steam 
system, but the steam pipes and smoke 
pipe are connected in some way so that 
the draft sucks the steam through the 
heating pipes instead of its being forced 
through under pressure. The boiler 
blows off steam at 10 ounces instead <>f 
the customary two pounds; six ounces of 
pressure is sufficient for the severest 
weather. This is claimed to be much 
more economical of fuel than the steam 
system. TTot water is probably just as 
good, but we could not use it on account 
of our water not flowing higher than the 
second floor. We had a choice of several 
firms but finally chose one in our home 
town whose specialty was heating. It 
might have been cheaper to deal with 
city firms or mail order houses, but for 
satisfaction select a man close at hand, 
that you can appeal to, if everything is 
not right when the first real cold snap 
comes. 
Radiating Surface. —Our contract 
called for nine radiators, boiler large 
enough to heat at least four other rooms 
in third floor when desired, all properly 
connected with water pipes and chimney, 
radiators painted, cellar pipes asbestos 
covered. We had to give up a pet fire¬ 
place to secure a chimney flue—but by 
building an outside chimney we can some 
time get the fireplace back. It took about 
two weeks to install everything complete. 
The radiators stand exactly where the 
contractor specified, not always the most 
convenient, but where they will heat the 
room best—usually under the coldest 
windows or near an outside door. The 
color of the radiators was a great prob¬ 
lem as neither gold nor aluminum seemed 
appropriate for a true colonial house, 
and white paint is too extravagant of 
heat. Finally the men concocted a dark 
bronze color by mixing black and a light 
copper paint together. This was excel¬ 
lent—almost an exact match of our dark 
stained floors, and the radiators were 
surprisingly inconspicuous. 
Fuel. —We had various experiments 
with coal before we found satisfaction. 
Stove coal, usj'“ v • used for furnaces 
would not keep an even fire—it would 
either be red hot or almost cold. Chest¬ 
nut was no better, but a combination of 
stove and pea coal is ideal, good keep¬ 
ing and responds instantly to drafts. 
Five minutes in the morning will make 
the radiators sizzle. We found that for 
a slight warmth on cool Fall days, a 
wood fire in the furnace would heat the 
whole house, with the same effort as an 
open grate fire. All sorts of wood, trash, 
and chunks could be used to advantage 
and with saving of coal. E. s. rrinton. 
Pennsylvania. 
Running a Gasoline Light. 
I read an account of a gasoline system 
of lighting. Does not this system require 
considerable skill in its management, and 
does it not get out of order frequently? 
c. 
The night that the gasolire lights at 
S-were installed the agent remained 
all night. When it came time to retii’e 
Mrs. S- turned off the light in the 
kitchen, and ns it did not go out at once, 
like an electric light, she exclaimed: 
"Well! Why don’t this light, go out?” 
The agent came post haste and explained 
that the gas that was in the generator 
had to burn out before the light went out, 
also, remarking that it was turned off 
too tight. Everything went fine for 
about a week, and then one night, as she 
turned one of them off, it went “chug” 
and the lever turned round and round 
without catching. An examination proved 
that she had broken the tiny screw that 
shuts off the gasoline. The lord of the 
household at once condemned the lights 
and when a few nights later the other 
one broke in the same way they were in 
still greater disgrace. 
The agent came and removed the bro¬ 
ken part, sending it to the company. As 
they were unable to drill out tin 1 tiny 
screws they sent whole new pieces at 90 
cents each. After this and the agent’s 
lengthy explanation that the lights would 
not leak, if one did not put her whole 
weight on the lever when shutting them 
off, she concluded that she and not the 
lights was at fault. 
The next empty-headed trick she did 
was to put the gasoline in without strain¬ 
ing, causing all kinds of trouble until it 
was removed by a tedious process, and 
more gasoline strained in. Then as soon 
as the watered gasoline got out of the 
wires, the lights worked fine again, until 
a bug got in the burner tip and a large 
miller in the large tube that carries the 
gasoline to the mantle or burner-head. 
The agent happened along one day and 
in two minutes had it in working order 
again. He took the burner-tip off, reveal¬ 
ing a big bug and some dust inside the 
tip. lie cleaned the tip by brushing and 
blowing, also blowing a very large miller 
from the tube that carries gasoline to 
the burner-head. 
It is a year now since the lights have 
given any trouble, and the owner thinks 
it is because she has at last learned how 
they should be cared for. She says: 
“Never condemn a lighting system till 
you are sure that you know how to care 
for it.” A hollow wire system should 
always have the gasoline strained through 
a chamois skin, have the generators and 
burner-tips cleaned often, also must be 
well generated before lighting, never al¬ 
lowing anyone to turn them on when not 
lighted, as this makes them smoke and 
blaze up. Mantles with a hole in should 
be discarded at once as this allows a tiny 
stream of flame to concentrate on one 
spot in the globe, breaking it very soon. 
MRS. M. K. 
Care of Sewing Machines. 
Haze Emigh, of tin; Colorado College, 
gives the following advice about caring 
for the se ug machine : 
Clean it frequently, using a stiff 
bristled paint brush about a half inch in 
width. Brush all parts of the machinery, 
especially under the feed and around the 
shuttle, to remove all lint and dust. Have 
a little kerosene in a cup, dip the brush 
into the kerosene and go over the ma¬ 
chine, getting into all the crevices, then 
wipe all parts with a cloth. Sometimes 
when a machine is quite old you will find 
it has become “gummed up” in behind the 
shuttle race. This may be relieved by 
taking out the shuttle case and brushing 
the exposed parts with kerosene. 
After cleaning, oil the machine by drop¬ 
ping a good quality of machine oil, from 
the small oil can belonging to the ma¬ 
chine, into the holes which are on the 
surface and onto all parts of the mechan¬ 
ism, where one piece of machinery rubs 
against another. A machine in constant 
use should be oiled every other day. The 
kerosene need be used only occasionally. 
When a new machine is purchased, it is 
well to have the dealer explain it to you 
thoroughly, and, if possible, take it apart 
and put it together again for you, so you 
may understand exactly how it works. 
A “cub” reporter on a New York news¬ 
paper was sent to Paterson to write the 
story of the murder of a rich manufac¬ 
turer by thieves. lie spread himself with 
this sentence: “Fortunately for the de¬ 
ceased, he had deposited all of his money 
in the bank the day before, so he lost 
practically nothing but his life.”—Every¬ 
body’s. 
Country House on an Elevation. 
Even Uncle Sam 
Was Interested 
Uncle Sam’s investi¬ 
gators were much in¬ 
terested in the way 
Clothcraft Clothes are 
made. 
Especially when they 
found so few of the 
workers in those shops 
were changed from year 
to year. 
Careful training, good 
surroundings, the most 
advanced machines, 
testing, inspection, and 
sanitary provisions—all 
these have helped to put 
more real value into 
Clothcraft All-Wool 
Clothes for men and 
young men. 
Come in and see what 
solid profit you get in 
Clothcraft at $10 to $20. 
No.5130 Blue Serge 
Special at $15.00 is wne 
of the best values ever 
offered the clothes buyer. 
CLOTHCRAFT 
All Wool Clothes 
ho to * 20 
j The Clothcraft Store 
(IN YOUR TOWN) 
Write to The Joseph & Feins Co., 635 St. Clair Ave., Cleve¬ 
land, Ohio, for tlio Clothcraft Style Prints, a sample of the all- 
wool sorgo used in Clothcraft 6130, and a personal note of 
introduction to the nearest Clothcraft Store. 
Every 
Farm 
Woman 
is interested in the new 
Woman and Home De¬ 
partment of The Rural 
New - Yorker. Secure 
your neighbor’s subscrip¬ 
tion and get a Reward. 
Send for new Reward 
List to 
Department “M” 
The Rural New-Yorker 
333 W. 30th Street 
New York City 
