nOME SURROUNDINGS. 165 



As to the depth at which water is met with, it all de- 

 pends on location. If dug on a decided knoll, thirty or 

 forty feet are not uncommon before the water-level is 

 reached. On lesser knolls (it is very unusual to see a 

 Florida home that is not built on a "rise") water is often 

 found at from eight to twelve feet. Of course the water- 

 level varies with the wet or dry season, and so it is always 

 best to dig, if possible, when the lakelets round about have 

 reached their minimum. If you can not do this, the well 

 will have to be deepened as the surrounding lakes lower 

 their waters. It costs from fifty to seventy-five cents per 

 foot to have the well dug, and until clay is reached the ' 

 sides must be curbed and the cost of planking must be 

 added to the sum total. Usually the well for family use 

 will not altogether cost more than eight to ten dollars. As 

 a rule, the bucket, rope, and pulley are the means em- 

 ployed to obtain the water. Pumps are as yet a rarity, 

 not quite so much as they were a few years ago, but still 

 far more so than they should be, with a due regard for the 

 patient workers on whom the burden of hauling up the 

 heavy buckets from the depths of the well usually falls. 

 There is quite work enough for the women of the family 

 to do without this needless and heavy task being added. 



So rare were pumps when we came to Florida, that ours 

 was the first one for a circuit of some miles. So great a 

 curiosity was our modest "Cucumber," that our humbler 

 neighbors made many a pilgrimage to its shrine and opened 

 their eyes in wonder at the ease with which "the waters 

 drawed up." They had never seen, nor heard, nor dreamt 

 of such a wonderful thing. Our colored washerwoman 

 had to be taught how to pump water, and her shy and 

 awkward attempts to work the handle were ludicrous in 

 the extreme. It was the same with the plowmen coming 

 in from the field hot and thirsty. They would look help- 



