Caddy Buddy books

He is lucky if the water
in the old cast-iron kettle which hangs on the crane in the
fireplace be not frozen. As soon as the fire is started he
goes outdoors to thaw out the pump, if they have a wooden
pump. But that is all frozen up, and he has to get some hot
water from this kettle to pour down over the piston till he
can thaw it out. Sometimes he would have an old-fashioned
well, sunk too low in the ground for the frost to reach it,
and could get water with the old oaken bucket.
He brings in from out-of-doors a pail or two of water. If
there has been a snow-storm the night before he has to shovel
a path to the wood-shed, where he can get the day's supply
of wood from outside, and then from the doors of the house
out to the street. Meantime the woman whose duty it is to
get breakfast makes her appearance.
The wooden pump, which took the place of the old well in many
dooryards, was considered a great invention. We all looked
with huge respect upon Sanford Adams of Concord, who invented
it, and was known all over the country.
He was quite original in his way.


Pages:
63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87