SPRINGS.
Hour after hour the rain beats against the window. Where can so much water go to? Some of it runs down the street in muddy torrents. Some of it soaks into the ground. You have seen a sponge absorb water. The ground takes up water in much the same way.
After the rain stops we find little ponds in all the hollows. In a few days the water is gone.
What do you suppose has become of it? You have already learned that water particles are rising from the ocean all of the time. They are rising also from every pond of water. The basin of water left upon the door step will become dry if it stands a few days.
All of the water of the pond does not change to vapor in this way and disappear in the air. A part slowly sinks down through the ground. Down, down the water goes into the soft soil. Finally it reaches the rock which we have learned is below the soil. Does the water stop then? No; for there are little cracks in the rock. The water slowly creeps into these cracks and so keeps on its journey into the earth.
The cracks are small and the water goes slowly. Finally some of the little cracks unite and form larger ones. In the larger cracks the water can run faster and now we have a bubbling little stream. It is far, far below the ground on which we walk.
Will the water ever come out into the sunshine again? Let us see. The land, you know, is not smooth. There are hills and valleys and cations. As the little streams flow along underground some of them may come to one of these or ravines.
If a cation lies in the path of a little stream it will all at once slip out through the rocks into the bright sunlight.
In such a place we have a spring. The water which was muddy once is now clear. The dirt was lost in the long journey under ground. We think there is no other water as good as spring water.
The ferns and grasses love the water. They grow up and shade the spring from the hot sun. It is pleasant to think that they do this through gratitude for the pure water given them.
Many of the underground streams never find a canon in their path. They go deeper and deeper into the earth. At last they come where the rocks are very warm. The farther they go the hotter the rocks become. At last they are hot enough to turn a part of the water into steam.
The steam will not let the water behind it go any farther. It pushes the water back and makes it flow toward the top of the ground again. When this water comes out upon the top of the ground it forms a hot or boiling spring. You can cook eggs or potatoes in such a spring. The water of hot springs is often used as a medicine. This is the story of the water that was lost in the ground.
When people dig wells they try to find one of these underground streams. They often do find a tiny stream. Sometimes they find one so large that they have to climb out of the well very quickly.