Count Your Electrical Blessings
Many people in much of the rest of the world wish that they could trade places with us, because we have so many electrical appliances in our homes.
Of course, we have not always had as many appliances as there are today. When electricity first came along, people used it only for lights. Then, they began to add flatirons, washing machines, refrigerators, coffee percolators, and radios.
Then more and more electrical things were made for people to use and enjoy. Now we have dozens and dozens of uses for electricity in our homes.
How many different uses for electricity are there in your home today? Ask your parents how many there were when your home was built or first wired. How many were common when your parents began to keep house?
Some Homes Are Behind Times
Many older homes were built before electricity was available, and were wired later. And like them, some older homes that were wired as they were built had only enough wiring for lights and a few other appliances, because those were the only uses that were known at that time.
But people kept on living in these homes, and kept adding to the uses they made of electricity without adding to their wiring.
What has this meant? Well, if electricity were like cars and trucks, you could say that some people are trying to put turnpike traffic through a back-country dirt road!