Well (water)

“ The bottom of the well is below high-water mark on the beach, where it has an outlet into the sea. At very low tides in the summer, when the supply of water in the well is scanty, it becomes dry for an hour or two after low water. When the ocean tide rises, the sea-water banks up and drives back the fresh water, and the well fills again and its water rises. The villagers are accustomed to let the well-water rise through what they call the ‘nostrils of the well,’ and become settled a little before they draw it. ”

“ Well Waters ought not to be used only in cases of necessity, when waters of a softer quality cannot be procured: the well water should be pumped into tubs, or any convenient vessel that is clean and sweet. ”

“ If the water be troubled, he [50] will be disturbed by her, and suddenly fall sick. If he seems to give to others clear well water to drink, it denotes that he will enrich them. But if the water be troubled, he will afflict them. ”

“ Includes well-water and all others that arise from some depth below the surface of the earth, and which are used at the fountain-head, or at least before they have run any considerable distance exposed to the air. ”

“ There was an old well under the wall that used to frighten and yet attract me, it was so very deep and dark. I always fancied that some unknown [Pg 23] danger lurked in its depths, yet I could not resist the temptation of peering down into it, to see through all the fern and broad-leaved mulleins, the black water far below marked by one round spot of light, where the reflection from the sky touched the surface.
It was a daily pleasure to me to see the bucket lowered into the well. ”

“ Our wells, at an average, run to about sixty-three feet, and when sunk to that depth seldom fail; but produce a fine limpid water, soft to the taste, and much commended by those who drink the pure element, but which does not lather well with soap. ”

“ The well, which lies in a hollow at the foot of the mountains, is merely a hole scratched in the sand which contains about thirty gallons of dirty water, and is the worst we have so far seen; so dirty, in fact, that it has all to be boiled and filtered before we can use it. ”

“ Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
My myself in the summer heaven, godlike
Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.
Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb,
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths—and then I lost it.
Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom, ”

“ If the well be dug at D, the water will rise not only to the surface but to E, because this is on a level with H. Water is sometimes obtained under such circumstances from very great depths. In this case [89] the porous stratum containing the water is reached by boring, and then we have what is termed an Artesian well. ”

“ Arte ́sian Wells, so called from the French province of Artois, where they appear to have been first used on an extensive scale, are perpendicular borings into the ground through which water rises to the surface of the soil, producing a constant flow or stream, the ultimate sources of supply being higher than the mouth of the boring, and the water thus rising by the well-known law. ”

“ The river has taught me to listen, from it you will learn it as well. It knows everything, the river, everything can be learned from it. See, you've already learned this from the water too, that it is good to strive downwards, to sink, to seek depth. ”

“ Aqua vini is what he calls it, but some name it, he says, aqua vitæ, or water which preserves itself always, and golden water. It is well called water of life, he says, because it strengthens the body and prolongs life. ”

“ He will know what kinds to give a good deal to, and what kinds to water sparingly. Until he has acquired this ability it is well for him to adhere to the rule given above, for if he follows it, he cannot go very far wrong in either direction. Let the water used be of about the same temperature as that of the room in which the plants are. I am often asked which is best, hard or soft water. ”

“ It is further said that these Norns who dwell by the Well of Urdr take water of the well every day, and with it that clay which lies about the well, and sprinkle it over the Ash, to the end that its limbs shall not wither nor rot ”

“ The engineer who has to superintend the construction of a well should be ever on the watch to see whether, in the course of the work, the strata become so modified as to overthrow conclusions previously arrived at, and on account of which the well has been undertaken. ”

“ By no means every house has its well. Sometimes there are only two or three to a block. Sometimes the well is merely a shallow hole, uncemented, to catch the seepage of the upper strata. Sometimes it is a very deep stone-walled cavity. Rarely is there a pump or a windlass or any other fixed aid for raising the water. ”

“ When wading it is just as well not to get your clothes wet if you can help it. Clothes that are made wet with seawater, [Pg 198] which probably has a little sand in it, are as uncomfortable as crumbs in bed. There is no reason why you should get them wet if you wade wisely. Sitting among the rocks, running through the water, and jumping the little crisping waves are the best ways to get soaked. ”

“ Once it gets going at a certain pressure, well, it is almost impossible to turn it off. And, my hat! what odd things come up with the water! ”

“ and then, When the well is dry, they know the worth of water. ”

“ It is well to have some water in your neighborhood, to give buoyancy to and float the earth. ”

“ We dig Wells, of fresh water sometimes within 20 yards of the Sea or less, which rise and Fall upon the Floud, and ebb as the Sea doth; and so do most of the Wells in the Country, though further up (as I am inform'd.) Wheresoever they digg Wells here, they digg till they come almost to a Level with the superficies of the Sea, and then they find either fresh water or salt. If it be fresh, yet if they digg two or three foot deeper, or often less, they come to salt water. If it be a sandy ground, or a sandy crumbling Stone, that the water soaks gently through, they find usually fresh water ”

“ then, as Poor Dick says, When the Well's dry, they know the Worth of Water. ”

“ Why is the water in some wells much warmer than in others?
In wells where the water is warm, the streams flowing into them are near the surface of the earth, and are heated by the sun; but in the wells of cold water, the streams are much deeper in the earth. ”

“ What d'you say to a wash and that down in the sea—a plunge in the cove and then out and dry yourself? Why, it'd be half your life. Do you all the good in the world. Can't offer you fresh water; there's next to none down below here. ”

“ There are lots of wells, in which the water is very hard, and people say it is sea-water filtered through the soil; and it must be so, for at high tide the wells are at their fullest, and quite brackish. ”

“ What is it that makes the water, when spouting forth in a smooth stream from the hose, such a power? What is it that makes the beauty of the stem and curve of the body of water, as it leaps out of the fountain? ”

“ This drains off from the surface, forming rills, which collect as they descend, by their own weight, into the lowest channels of the ground, and form into streams and rivers, and back into the sea comes the water which the air had taken away, with this difference, that it is free from salt and fit for the many uses to which fresh water alone can be applied; when the vapour rises from the sea, none of the saline matters rise with it, for, although the water is volatile, yet they are not, and this is the whole source of fresh water. ”

“ The Goddess thus addressed them, as they forbade her: ‘Why do you deny me water? The use of water is common 231 VI. 350-376 to all. Nature has made neither sun, nor air, nor the running stream, the property of any one. To her public bounty have I come, which yet I humbly beg of you to grant me. I was not intending to bathe my limbs here, and my wearied joints, but to relieve my thirst. ”

“ Such are some of the facts connected with this important fluid—water. So common and abundant is it in nature, that we are apt to overlook its value; but we need only be deprived of it for a season, when we shall set a due estimate upon its importance. Pure and sparkling to the eye, bland and refreshing to the taste, whether it bubbles up from mother earth, gurgles in rills, flows along in streams and rivers, or spreads out in lakes and oceans, it every where proves a blessing,—and ought to be universally regarded as one of the most inestimable gifts of Providence to man. ”

“ Artesian wells, wells made by boring into the earth till the instrument reaches water, which, from internal pressure, flows spontaneously like a fountain. They are usually of small diameter and often of great depth. ”

“ The same chemist who sets me against all my food with his chemical names speaks of the sea as a weak solution of drowned men. Be that as it may, it leaves the skin harsh with salt, and the hair sticky. Moreover, it is such a promiscuous bathing-place. However, we need scarcely depreciate the sea as a bath, for what need is there of that when the river is clearly better? No one can deny that the river is better. People who bathe in the sea bathe by mistake, because they have come to the side of the sea, and know not how else to use it. ”

“ Those who live on the banks of the river swim like ducks, and, as their aquatic excursions often end in a capsize, they are perforce washed in the stream. But washing in the light of ablution is never performed by them, and those who live inland, and have no river, never know the feeling of water on their oily bodies. ”

“ Also the exterior and outward shape or form makes some bodies more apt to sink then others; Indeed, the outward form and shape of Creatures is one of the chief causes of either sinking or swimming. But to conclude, water in its interior nature is of a mean or middle degree, as neither too rare, nor too grave a body; and for its exterior quality, it is in as high a degree for wetness, as fire is for heat; and being apt both to divide, and to unite, it can bear a burden, and devour a burden, so that some bodies may swim, and others sink ”

“ The river's full of wells. Wells in a river? Most certainly; curious sort of holes scooped out of the rock bottom by the screw of the whirlpools. Odd, isn't it? Twenty feet deep. Gives one a fair idea of the absolutely terrific force of the water—the current, don't you know. ”

“ In places therefore through which no stream runs, the wells are the great centres of pasturage, around which are to be seen vast flocks extending far in every direction. These wells are kept carefully closed by their owners, and are only opened for the use of those who are entitled to water their flocks at them. ”

“ Jonathan was quite right. Woods were the wettest. One can hardly fancy anything quite so wet. Solid water, like a river, is not comparable, because it is all in one lump; you know where it is, and you can get out of it when you want to. ”

“ Wells have been dug to great depths in perfectly dry ground in an eager search for water without finding it, and such an experience is usually equivalent to a failure and the making of a useless bill of expense. ”

“ A great deal of the irregularity in the action of wells, and the consequent distrust with which they are regarded by many, is attributable either to improper situation or to the haphazard manner in which the search for underground water is frequently conducted. ”

“ The inhabitants derive their water supply from wells, the rain-water in which appears to have some con nection with the sea, as the contents of the wells rise and fall with the tide upon the neighbouring shore. ”

“ And more than that, they are equal to the ocean, not because they do pour, but because these two springing streams can pour such, and so much, that compared with them the Nile [Pg 73] would appear a tiny stream divided into seven streamlets. [T]
[T] Is this an allusion to the seven activities or changes which water goes through to produce form; Water being the formative power which Fire, itself formless and the moving power, animates?— (Tr.)
Lib. Be not surprised at that exaggeration nor at that potency without action! ”

“ The waters, too, whether of the ocean or of the land, teem with animated beings. Scarcely is a particle of matter to be found that does not present inhabitants to our view; and a drop of ditch-water is a little world in itself, stored with inmates of corresponding magnitude. ”