730 



GLEANINGS IN P.IiE CULTURE. 



July 1 



Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, 

 and he that hath no money; come * * * —Isaiah 55:1. 



I was sent as a delegate to the State con- 

 ference of the Congregational churches of 

 Ohio; and I should like to tell something 

 about that conference, but I have another 

 matter in mind just now. I went to Oberlin 

 in my automobile, and of course had a most 

 enjoyable trip. Although the roads were 

 not yet in very good trim I managed to run 

 the machine with so much economy that IJ 

 gallons of gasoline carried me the whole dis- 

 tance, 20 miles. But I am not going to talk 

 about automobiles either. 



As soon as I put in an appearance at the 

 big church in Oberlin I was informed that 

 my abidingplace would be with a namesake, 

 Mr. A. S. Root, the college librarian. I 

 greatly enjoyed getting acquainted with Mr. 

 and Mrs. Root and a lot of Rootlets. Of 

 course, I had to take them around town in 

 my auto; and in making some repairs and 

 adjustments I found it necessary to wash 

 the black grease from my fingers. I wiped 

 it off on the grass and on a piece of paper 

 as well as I could before attempting to 

 wash. By the way, let me tell you that, 

 when you are doing any kind of greasy 

 work, you should have plenty of soft news- 

 papers; and before you undertake to wash, 

 clean your hands thoroughly on the paper. 



Mrs. Root ushered me into a neat little 

 bath-room where were all the modern appli- 

 ances for personal comfort. As I turned the 

 nickel-plated faucet over the marble wash- 

 bowl I said mentally, "Now, this is city 

 water, and, of course, it is hard, and I am 

 going to have a job in getting my hands 

 clean, especially around my nails, with hard 

 water such as we have almost all over 

 Northern Ohio." 



Just here came one of my "happy sur- 

 prises." I think I will call it happy surprise 

 No. 1. While the water was as white and 

 clear as the finest spring water, it was 

 apparently as soft as the purest rain water. 

 With a little soap my hands were cleaned 

 beautifully, leaving them with that nice 

 soft feeling that you always get with rain 

 water. The thing that surprised me was 

 that such beautiful water as that was drawn 

 from the hydrants, indicating that the city 

 must be supplied with just that kind. A 

 bright clean glass was at hand, and I 

 thought I would just see whether it was 

 really as soft as it appeared to be when used 

 with soap. Why, I should have pronounced 

 it distilled water; and then I began asking 

 questions at the dinner-table. Mr. Root said 

 it would afford him great pleasure to show 

 me through the waterworks plant and have 

 the man in charge explain all about the fil- 

 tration and the chemical processes that re- 

 moved the lime and made the water almost 

 chemically pure. With the aid of the auto- 



mobile we were soon down to the water- 

 works. By the way, what a grand thing it 

 is that the State of Ohio has taken in hand 

 this matter of furnishing water for people 

 to drink, and employed our very best experts 

 to superintend the waterworks! Whenever 

 I go into a new town of late I greatly enjoy 

 finding out all about their water supply; and 

 I do enjoy most intensely seeing an appa- 

 ratus that is not only scientific but clear up 

 to date in artistic beauty. Of course, small 

 towns can not afford to go to too great an 

 expense in this latter direction. Well, a 

 few glances to the right and left enabled me 

 to take in the beauty of the Oberlin water- 

 works plant, and a few moments later I had 

 happy surprise No. 2. When Mr. Root had 

 introduced the manager and engineer, this 

 latter personage said: 



' ' Why, Mr. Root, I do not know of any 

 other man in the world whom I should enjoy 

 showing around and talking with more than 

 yourself. ' ' 



"Why, my good friend, I am very much 

 obliged; but how does it come about that 

 you enjoy meeting me? You are not a bee- 

 keeper as well as engineer, are you?" 



' ' No, I am not a bee-keeper ; but my 

 neighbor is. Do you see his hives over 

 there across the side-hill ? Well, I have 

 been following you through your journal for 

 years past. Yes, I read all about the flying- 

 machines, about temperance, good water 

 to drink, and all that; and I am happy to be 

 entirely at your service this morning." 



As our children have all been educated in 

 Oberlin— that is, after quitting the Medina 

 schools— I have for years heard more or less 

 about their water supply. The plan they 

 adopted years ago was a reservoir filled 

 with surface water from a little shallow 

 brook that comes from higher ground a mile 

 or so out of the city. Before they had their 

 present apparatus they endeavored to fill 

 the said reservoir with water as clean as 

 possible by turning the brook off to one side 

 when it first began to rain, much as we 

 turn the switch to wash the smoke off from 

 our slate roofs when the rain commences. 

 After the water was running down the brook 

 tolerably clear they let it into the reservoir. 

 Now, it is a hard matter to manage this 

 arrangement for household use, as I know 

 by experience; but where it contains the 

 water supply of a considerable city they can 

 well afford to have a man employed to give 

 his whole attention to it during rainy periods 

 to get the very best part of the rain water 

 into the reservoir. The above plan has been 

 in use for many years; but the water was 

 hard, and not always free from other objec- 

 tionable substances. The present apparatus, 

 I think, has been in use a little over a year. 

 Besides the big reservoir I have mentioned, 

 there are now two smaller ones, situated 

 quite a little below the large one, with gates 

 or valves so the water can be drawn from 

 one to the other. First, they endeavor to 

 get rid of all sediment by a sort of settling 

 process as much as possible. Then the lime 

 and other chemicals in the water are re- 



