p. 254 | A Warning by Christian Union

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 16.

A Warning.

By Christian Union

RARELY has the danger from drinking impure well water been brought more forcibly to mind than during the past week. A gentleman recently bought and removed to a farm three miles north of Stamford, Conn., in a little hamlet known as Roxbury. During the past week the owner and his two children were buried. On investigation it has been found that the well water had been poisoned by drainage from the barn-yard and out-buildings. Comment is unnecessary; the fact speaks for itself. That the same conditions exist in thousands of homes there is no doubt. Nor is there any doubt that many of those who will be bereaved and left desolate will derive spiritual comfort and consolation from the thought that "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth," never doubting that death comes from the Lord. Death may well be called an avenger, for death is the avenger of broken and neglected laws of health.

The porosity of the soil is not understood as it should be. A vessel of any sort filled with dry earth, compressed as much as possible, will still absorb one-quarter to one-third of its own bulk of water without overflow. This not only proves the danger from drainage into wells and cisterns, but also proves the dangers arising from the gases which are the result of decomposition.

The season of warm weather is approaching, and one that is looked forward to with peculiar dread, and it behooves every householder to look well to the ways of his household out-of-doors. Where the habit of throwing slops and refuse around the house has been formed, stop it, and use all possible means to remedy the evil that has been done, by providing suitable arrangements for the convenience and health of the household.