button lamp

While shivering through The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, we read about Ma's "button lamp".  When the family ran out of kerosene for their lamp, Ma took axle grease, put it in a plate, wrapped a scrap of fabric around a coat button, and stuck it in the grease.  She greased the upward-sticking tips of the fabric, and voila! a light to read by. 

We, of course, had to try it.  Anything involving fire is right up our alley.

We didn't have any axle grease on hand, so we used cooking oil.  Also, I expect Ma's button was made out of...something different than ours are, since if we took a big button out of my sewing box and lit it, it'd melt.  So we wrapped our wick around a quarter. 

We had a great time watching our "button lamp" on a gloomy, rainy afternoon.  Then we blew it out, washed the quarter, turned the lights back on, and went on reading.  Because we have to know.  Will the blizzard ever end?  Will the train ever come?!?

~MB~

Comments

[Surreal]

It's not MARY Ingalls Wilder, it's LAURA Ingalls Wilder who wrote 'the Long Winter' and all the other books in the series.
Just thought that was a pretty big error to make.
It is very cool that you tried out the button lamp, however. I always said that I would try it and it definitely looks like it'd be neat to make!

Surreal

[motherbird]

Ha! That's what I get for blogging with four children crawling on me! Thanks for correcting me!
~E~