got a light?

Back in the sixties, my dad had a gas yard light installed next to our house on 2624 Scenic Hwy.  I remember it burning, but remember it not burning most of the time we lived there.  I remember Dad having it fixed, and then it it was broken again.  Maybe it was just to much hassle to keep one burning.  My mother in-law, Mrs. Betty Hale, still has her gas yard lamp post.  I never saw it working.  Ivy vines have taken over the post many years ago.  These kind of lams remind me of another time, when yards everywhere were graced with gas lamp posts.  You can still buy gas lamps - I just wonder how practical they are in these times.