264 
PROFESSOR OWEN 
CH. IX. 
Another of his oldest friends was Pearson 
Langshaw, of Lancaster. The following anecdote, 
gleaned from his experiences as a commissioner to 
inquire into the water-supply of his native town, is 
extracted from a letter written to his fellow- towns- 
man by Owen in March 1 889. It at least illustrates 
the way in which his mind reverted to the home 
and familiar accents of his childhood. ‘ I knew,’ he 
writes, ‘ the wretched character of its water-supply 
from household wells and pumps, which yielded 
very hard water. I also knew that a hill of 
primitive rock, a few miles from the town, going 
from a level higher than the church steeple, 
carried off the purest rainfall to the neighbouring 
sea. 1 hat fine water was brought to the town, 
and has proved an unfailing supply to every class 
of dwelling. There were two elderly widows, 
inhabiting neighbouring abodes, who had adopted 
the economical habit of taking tea with each 
other alternately. On the first occasion of using 
the purer water, the visitor exclaimed, “ Eh ! 
Betty, thou’s put a power o’ tea into pot to-neet ! ” 
‘‘Nay, Jennie,” replied the hostess, “it’s nobbut 
t’ new watter.” ’ 
As the circle of his old friends contracted it 
was hardly to be expected that their places would 
be taken by new. Sir Richard lived out of 
London, almost in country retirement. Unable, 
except at rare intervals, to travel to town, and 
especially incapable of night journeys, he was 
