Remembering Lamps and Lanterns

I recently spoke to a group of mostly retired people, about 300 of them. I asked how many of them had grown up without electricity. Ten people raised their hands. I expected more, as many in the group were of my generation. Electricity didn’t come to our farm until the spring of 1947 when I was in eighth grade. By that time, I had grown quite accustomed to lamps and lanterns. Before electricity arrived, we lighted out home with kerosene lamps. We used lanterns to light our way in the barn and other outbuildings.

The people in Wild Rose, our nearest town, got electricity in1908. Wild Rose had a water-powered grist mill, which not only ground grain for cattle feed but also powered a generator that provided the electricity. In those days, the village people had electricity from sundown until eleven o’ clock in the evening. The miller said he needed the waterpower for grinding grain at the mill during the daylight hours. Besides, why would anyone want electricity in the daytime

Electricity surely made life easier on the farm. We enjoyed electric lights, but electric motors where even more appreciated than light bulbs.

Thinking back to those pre-electricity days. I remember the cold, clear nights in winter and seeing a sky filled with stars, from one horizon to the other. I also, remember the quiet. There was no hum of motors in the background, no blaring TV, only quiet.

My newest book is titled: SIMPLE THINGS: LESSONS FROM THE FAMILY FARM.
In the book, I talk about the simple things including life on the farm with lamps and lanterns

THE OLD TIMER SAYS: Sometimes we forget how important the simple things such as darkness and quiet can be.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

November 9, 2-4 p.m. Plymouth Cheese Counter and Dairy Heritage Center, Plymouth, WI Book Signing.

November 10: 9:30-11:30, Plymouth Art Center, Second Saturday. ONE ROOM SCHOOL.

November 13, 6:30 p.m. Patterson Memorial Library, Wild Rose. Central Wisconsin launch of SIMPLE THINGS, LESSONS FROM THE FAMILY FARM.

Purchase Jerry’s signed DVDs and books from the Library in Wild Rose, Wisconsin (a fundraiser for them):
Patterson Memorial Library
500 Division Street
Wild Rose, WI 54984
barnard@wildroselibrary.org
www.wildroselibrary.org
Phone: 920-622-3835
DVDs: His latest Public TV show, One-Room Country School is now available. It’s based on his book, One-Room Country Schools (also available). Emmy Winner, A Farm Winter with Jerry Apps (based on The Quiet Season book.)
Jerry Apps a Farm Story (based on Rural Wit and Wisdom and Old Farm books.)
The Land with Jerry Apps, (based on the book Whispers and Shadows,)
Never Curse the Rain, (based on his book with the same title)
The library has several of Jerry’s signed books for sale including Jerry’s newest nonfiction books, Once a Professor, Every Farm Tells a Story, Living a County Year (reprints), One-Room Country Schools, Never Curse the Rain and Old Farm Country Cookbook, and his novel, The Great Sand Fracas of Ames County. Also Wisconsin Agriculture: A History, Roshara Journal (with photos by Steve Apps) and Telling Your Story—a guidebook for those who want to write their own stories.
Contact the library for prices and special package deals.