A WELL. 87 



and although it was inconvenient that the villagers 

 should have been stricken with this fancy at so in 

 opportune a moment, it was certainly fortunate that 

 the man was so honest. He was employed at once, 

 and strongly impressed with the necessity of the ut 

 most haste. 



It is probable that his other engagements en 

 grossed much of his time. The well did not pro 

 gress rapidly ; but, as it soon appeared that the house 

 would not be completed for occupation before the 

 ensuing summer, the immediate necessity for drink 

 ing-water was done away with. There is a wonder 

 ful romance about the &quot; old oaken bucket.&quot; Many 

 a time in youthful days have I plunged my nose 

 into its liquid contents, and choked myself, and 

 poured the water down my shirt-front, in frantic en 

 deavors to drink from its thick rim; often have I 

 lowered the empty vessel far into the bowels of the 

 earth, and jumped it up and down at the risk of 

 dashing it to pieces against the stone sides, in order 

 to fill it, and then puffed over the heavy pull of 

 bringing it, laden with the cooling crystal, to the sur 

 face. &quot;With due reverence have I studied the many 

 poetical things which have been said in its honor; 

 but the days of oaken buckets are numbered ; they 

 have been succeeded by force-pumps, and chain- 



