THE STORY OF A “ BACK TO THE LAND ” MOVEMENT THAT WAS STARTED BY A MOTOR CAR—CHAPTER 
V—THE ELECTRIC PLANT AND ITS ADJUNCT, THE ELECTRIC AUTOMOBILE—MRS. SPENCE’S SURPRISE 
Editor’s Note: The man whose business ties him to the city may feel the call of woods and fields, but the unpleasant prospects of isolation, lack of transit facilities, 
provincialism, etc., have deterred him from making a change. The automobile has solved these difficulties for many and has made a home in the rural country possible even for 
city business men. This is the account of an emigration to a rural district made possible by a motor. The automobile was considered part of the plant, and yet even 
when its original cost was included in the price of the home, they found that it enabled them to buy quite extensive lands for the price of a place in a high-class suburban 
development. How a motor served in a variety of practical purposes, brought friends, made the family independent of distance and time-table, is taken from the experiences 
of a man who has proved his experiment. This narrative was begun in the July issue. 
BY C. H. Claudy 
S INCE the day lie had had 
a telephone conversation 
with the Countryside Electric 
Company, Mr. Spence had 
been revolving a plan in his 
mind which, he hoped, would 
complete and round out their 
Castleton home in a manner 
not dreamed of by his family. 
His plan was nothing less 
than the installation of a 
private electric plant and a 
number of motors and ac¬ 
cessory pieces of apparatus 
which would do much of the 
work about the place now 
done either by human hands 
or left undone for lack of 
time. 
“The automobile has made 
me a complete convert to mechanical assistance,” Mr. Spence 
explained to the representative of the Electrical Company. "You 
don’t have to use any argument with me to show me why an 
electric motor is better than a pair of biceps. All you have to do 
is to talk prices and sizes!” 
“That makes it very easy, then,” was the smiling answer. 
“Usually we have first to convince a prospective customer that 
he really needs electric power, and then show him where he can 
get it at a minimum price. But, I take it, you are a business 
man, and you know that in this world you get just 
about what you pay for, and no more. It is per¬ 
fectly possible for you to beat our prices. You can 
go to some companies which will sell you a gasoline 
engine, a generator, and a set of accumu¬ 
lators, furnish you wires, bulbs and ac¬ 
cessories for two or three hundred dollars. 
Their outfits are good, as far as quality 
goes, but they are entirely too small for 
such a place as you have. You need about 
fifty-five lamps, and you want several 
motors. As I figure it, you 
want our type K outfit, which 
will run seventy-five lamps 
with something to spare.” 
“Well, what will it cost? 
And how long will it take? 
Those are the things I am in¬ 
terested in just now,” re¬ 
sponded Mr. Spence. 
“Well, I’d rather go over 
the place and make a de¬ 
tailed survey, first; then I can 
give you exact figures.” 
“You can do that, all 
right,” said Mr. Spence. 
“But you musn’t tell any one 
on the place what you are 
doing. I don’t care whether 
you are a tax assessor or a 
building inspector, a carpenter 
or a bricklayer, but you musn’t be an electrical expert! I want 
to surprise Mrs. Spence." 
“That’s all right—I can be a building inspector very nicely,” 
laughed Mr. Emmons. “But how can I have workmen install this 
plant without your wife knowing it?” 
“Oh, I am going to send her into the city for a visit, and you 
are going to do the work while she is away. That’s why I want 
to know how long it will take.” 
Mr. Emmons arrived the next afternoon, and made a detailed 
study of the house and outbuildings. He was a 
“building inspector” to Mrs. Spence, and as she was 
busy preserving some of her own fruit, she had not 
much time for curiosity. 
The next day plans were laid before 
Mr. Spence. 
“I can do the job for $450, for $570, 
or for $950, Mr. Spence,” announced 
Mr. Emmons. “The first price includes 
only exterior wiring in your house, use 
of your present fixtures, installation of 
When the engine and molor and all the other appurtenances of the electric light plant 
were installed and it was in operation, Mrs. Spence was introduced to her latest 
labor saver 
( 286 ) 
