Thursday, September 16, 2010

The Latest in Washing Machines

Hey, take a look at this: they have electric washing machines now.

Oh yeah? I still have that wooden crank tub at home. They keep talking about "rural electrification" but I'll believe it when I see it.

That won't happen till a decade from now, when President Roosevelt will create the rural electrification program in 1935.

Oh yeah? Great, another ten years of kerosene lamps. The hired boy almost burned the barn down last year. Sometimes I wish we'd move up into town to be closer to you and Mom.

Well, at least you're close enough to visit. Wanna go take a walk and check this out? It's over at Schaefer's.

Oh, we walked by there yesterday, didn't we? Over on, what street was that, Huron? By . . . Michigan Avenue.

Yep.

I remember--that was by that cigar shop, right? And across the street was that spa?

Yeah, let's go, it's nice out.

OK, I'll get my coat.

--ad from Ypsilanti Record, Jan 10, 1924

2 comments :

cmadler said...

Kerosene lamps, as well as the old-fashioned whale oil lamps they replaced, may be a fire hazard, but they sure throw off a lot more light (and a steadier light, which is important for reading) than candles.

Dusty D said...

They do, and it's such a beautiful light as well IMO---warm and yellow. I wouldn't mind having some in my own home, were they not a fire hazard.

The Museum has some whale oil lamps in storage in the basement, and I've seen ads for whale oil for sale in 1840s? papers, but those ads fade out pretty quickly. Certainly gone by the Civil War era papers.