"Why don't they have alternating current batteries?" inquired Erg.
"Well, it is time that we learned about the nature of batteries," said I, "if you boys are going to have two storage batteries to care for."
XIV
DOING CHORES BY ELECTRICITY
Chores were my salvation in youth, and those chores were not trifles. I was made to feel that the whole family depended on my milking the cows, bringing in the eggs, keeping the wood box full of wood, the water pail full of water brought from the old well, churning the butter, feeding and watering the animals, and performing a multitude of regular daily and weekly tasks. As I grew older my responsibilities were allowed to increase proportionally so that I might feel some measure of the dignity of being a mainstay and a support of the family. Long before I reached manhood occasional opportunities were presented for me to play the full part of a man. These sometimes came during a temporary absence or sickness of my father, but more often, as I learned afterward, by his skilfully eliminating himself from the situation so that I might try my powers.
We attempt in the present generation to furnish a substitute for the old time chores by our daily programme in school or in summer camp, but I often wonder whether this round of trifles can make men. Can one grow great without having a chance to feel occasionally that the world depends upon what he does?
Fig. 143