POOLS AND STREAMS 



THERE is something so delightful in the living, 

 moving presence of water in landscape that it 

 is no wonder that the prospective purchasers 

 of places look for the visible existence of a bit of sea 

 or lake, or even a pool or stream of water, which is 

 either actually or potentially effective. The variety 

 and characteristic charm of the sea, lake, or river is as 

 valuable and genuine a possession, w^hen you have it 

 before you, as the sky, and, in its way, just as beautiful 

 and precious; but when it comes to the little pool or 

 stream that you will have on your land if you buy it, or 

 that you may have if you succeed in translating poten- 

 tialities into realities, the problem presents the usual 

 considerable difficulties. There is nothing so deceptive, 

 and difficult to estimate beforehand, as the possibilities 

 of water as a harmonious and typical feature of a 

 country place, because water is such an elusive feature. 

 And it is especially so when the area of its display is 

 limited within the small confines of an ordinary country 

 place. It has a way of overflowing its banks, of drying 

 up in a day, of disappearing in the earth ^^ithout warn- 

 ing, of gro^^ing muddy, or green with scum — of doing 

 eccentric, unaccountable, and unavoidable things that 



