"But why do not people stop such a horrible loss of life?"

"Well, my dear boy, the true causes of it have only been known for
the last thirty or forty years; and we English are, as good King
Alfred found us to his sorrow a thousand years ago, very slow to
move, even when we see a thing ought to be done. Let us hope that
in this matter--we have been so in most matters as yet--we shall
be like the tortoise in the fable, and not the hare; and by moving
slowly, but surely, win the race at last."

"But now think for yourself: and see what you would do to save
these people from being poisoned by bad water. Remember that the
plain question is this: The rain-water comes down from heaven as
water, and nothing but water. Rain-water is the only pure water,
after all. How would you save that for the poor people who have
none? There; run away and hunt rabbits on the moor: but look,
meanwhile, how you would save some of this beautiful and precious
water which is roaring away into the sea."

* * *

"Well? What would you do? Make ponds, you say, like the old
monks' ponds, now all broken down. Dam all the glens across their
mouths, and turn them into reservoirs."

"'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings'--Well, that will have
to be done. That is being done more and more, more or less well.
The good people of Glasgow did it first, I think; and now the good
people of Manchester, and of other northern towns, have done it,
and have saved many a human life thereby already. But it must be