delicate but perpetual suggestion of the hidden depths of serene and beautiful and unhurried living.
Well borders never sacrifice picturesqueness to an austere usefulness, nor is the careless look of natural beauty obtained at the expense of safety. Even a log-bound mouth, though it be full of holes and covered with moss, will be quite safe and secure; and a cover, either of boards, of woven bamboo, or a straw mat, will protect the water from pollution by fallen leaves or inquisitive insects, and, where there are children, will be strong enough to keep them on the right side of it. Sometimes a pretty thatched roof will go over well, pulley, and cross-beam, buckets and all, or a smaller roof of boards may protect only the pulley top. With this style irregular stepping-stones would be used; but where the well border is of squarely hewn stone, or of cement, the stepping-stones would be squarely cut to correspond, and this dignified well would have a cover of severer model also. These roofs, on two legs, look very much like the old lich-gates of England, and are spoken of in the chapter on fences and gates.
Arrangements for drawing up the water vary a good deal. Sometimes there is a regular old-fashioned well-sweep (the Egyptian shadoof), such as may still be seen in some retired country places in our own lands; and sometimes it is
