this house of Farmer James. Here, when the cows are in pasture, 

 thej satisfy their thirst, and under tlie shade of a large tree they 

 stand in the water in the heat of the day. 



Its head waters are gathered from swampy land several miles 

 away, where there is a strong suggestion of miasma. It is in the 

 region of a tannery and waste products are poured into this swamp. 

 As it travels it widens into a little stream which here washes over 

 a dairy farm, furnishing drinking water in the barn yard and the 

 water with which the cans are washed. Now it receives the refuse 

 from a larore boardino; house. It Hows throuo:h the villao-e as a 

 reservoir for sewage and is dannned below for a duck pond in sum- 

 mer and an ice pond in winter. It receives another lease of life 

 and reaches the farm yard, innocent in appearance but full of poison 

 and badlv vitiated. 



A (jreat source of danger and a cause of discomfort and illness, 

 — The outside closet is fifty feet from the house. The grass and 

 w^eeds grow close to the narrow path in summer and in winter the 

 path tills witli snow. The door swings hardly shut on its worn 

 liinges and the snow or rain is drifted in. In rain or melted snow, 

 great drops of water fall from the eaves in front of the door. Bare 

 and exposed, its unscreened outlines suggest discomfort. 



IIoio to make a rich soil for hactaria. — At the side door for 

 many a j^ear a woman has appeared several times a day to fling as 

 far away from her as possible the contents of a dish-pan. Mondays 

 during these years she has done the family washing on the porch 

 and thrown the water on the same spot. Here the men stop on 

 their way to meals, till the basin witli the refreshing cold water 

 from the well near bv, bathe their hands and faces and add the con- 

 tents of the basiu to the dish-water and wash-water. Here the hired 

 man, veturning from the factory, washes the milk cans and empties 

 the water. The bacterial crop of the dish-pan, wash-tub, and milk- 

 can flght each other, thrive, go deeper and deeper and finally rejoice 

 in the moisture found near the well. 



An inundation in the cellar causes confusion. — Every season 

 there is an overflow of water in tlie undrained cellar at which time 

 the housekeeper picks her way over boards to the potato bin and 



499 



