XXVI. THE SPRING BROOK 



"Oh, for a seat in some poetic nook, 

 Just hid with trees and sparkling with a brook." 



Leigh Hunt. 



The early settlers in our country sought springs of water. 

 Clear-flowing streams were good to dwell by, but springs were 

 better. Their water was cooler in summer, did not freeze in 

 winter and was freer at all times from possible contamination. 

 Springs were the primeval water supply. These, more than 

 any other single thing, determined the home-sites of the 

 pioneers. 



Springs were natural coolers for perishable food products 

 not refrigerators, but coolers; milk or melons they would cool, 

 without overdoing it. A low thick-walled spring-house was 

 often built over the outflowing stream to keep out the sun's 

 warmth and to increase convenience and capacity. The 

 spring-house was the antecedent of the modern household 

 refrigerator, and altho far less convenient, being usually 

 remote from the kitchen, it was an excellent aid to keeping 

 foods fresh and cool. Moreover, its equable temperature 

 insured as well against their freezing in winter. 



Springs gave promise of the welfare of the fields, as well as 

 of the household. They signified plenty of ground water; 

 and the levels adjacent to the springs were the areas first 

 cleared and cultivated. In almost any locality, if one would 

 know where the first homes were built, he need only inquire 

 the location of the best permanent springs, and then look for 

 adjacent building-sites. 



Springs result from the water percolating through loose soil 

 strata, and flowing out over outcropping impermeable strata. 

 A layer of gravelly soil overlying a sheet of clay was nature's 

 primeval filtration plant. From it the water issues, clear 



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