CHAPTER THIRTEEN 



THE USE AND CARE OF WATER 



The ocean is the home of the water. The water would 

 always remain in the ocean if it could, but the sun and air 

 are continually at work stealing- little particles away and 

 sending them on long journeys. 



The water particles are so small as they rise from the 

 ocean that we cannot see them. By and by they crowd 

 together and make the clouds that float across the sky. As 

 soon as the clouds meet colder air, the little water particles 

 rush together and thus become larger and larger until they 

 grow so heavy that they can no longer float in the air, but 

 must fall. Some of them fall into the ocean again, but 

 others drop upon the land. 



The raindrops that reach the land have many sorts of 

 stories to tell -before they again get back to the ocean. 

 Some of them are at once snatched up again and are started 

 upon another journey. The thirsty air, whether over the 

 ocean or over the land, is ever in search of water particles. 



If the air is very cold, the clouds turn to snow instead of 

 rain. The feathery flakes fall slowly through the air and 

 form a soft white mantle over the earth. Those that fall on 

 lofty mountains form great banks which may not entirely 

 melt and turn to water until late in the summer. 



The raindrops that fall where the slopes are steep, where 

 Nature has grown little vegetation, or where men have de- 

 stroyed the earth cover, have little to detain them and are 

 soon on their way back to their home. In their hasty jour- 

 ney they do much damage to the unprotected soil. 



If the drops fall upon gentle slopes, or where there are 



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