the demands of a hand-pump or of bailing buckets,
the water did not flow into it as fast as it could be pumped out by an
engine. Therefore, for the purposes of supplying the circulation of my
domestic water system, the well was declared a failure.

My non-success was much talked about in the neighborhood, and we
received a great deal of sympathy and condolence. Phineas Colwell was
not surprised at the outcome of the affair. He had said that the well
had been put in the wrong place. Mrs. Betty was not only surprised,
but disgusted.

"It is all very well for you," she said, "who could afford to buy water
if it was necessary, but it is very different with the widow and the
orphan. If I had not supposed you were going to have a real well, I
would have had my spring cleaned out and deepened. I could have had it
done in the early summer, but it is of no use now. The spring has
dried up."

She told a neighbor that she believed the digging of my well had dried
up her spring, and that that was the way of this world, where the widow
and the orphan were sure to come out at the little end.

Of course I did not submit to defeat--at least, not without a struggle.
I had a well, and if anything could be done to make that well supply me
with water, I was going to do it. I consulted specialists, and, after
careful consideration of the matter, they agreed that it would be
unadvisable for me to attempt to deepen my present well, as there was
reason to suppose there was very little water in the place where I had
dug it, and that the very best thing I could do would be to try a
driven well. As I had already excavated about thirty feet, that was so
much gain to me, and if I should have a six-inch pipe put into my
present well and then driven down and down until it came to a place
where there was plenty of water, I would have all I wanted.

How far down the pipe would have to be driven, of course they did not
know, but they all agreed that if I drove deep enough I would get all
the water I wanted. This was the only kind of a well, they said, which
one could sink as deep as he pleased without being interfered with by
the water at the bottom. My wife and I then considered the matter, and
ultimately decided that it would be a waste of the money which we had
already spent upon the engine, the pipes, and the little house, and, as
there was nothing else to be done but to drive a well, we would have a
well driven.

Of course we wer