The Press., 1906-11-28
PURE WATER.
Every Home Can Have It With Little
 Trouble and Expense.

Trouble and Expense.
 A good filter is an expensive thing, a poor one is of little or no account, and almost any filter, unfessSt is kept clean, is more destructive of life and health than the water it filters. The care of the filter can never be given rver to the care of irresponsible serv- lnts. It soon begins to smell foul, and it is ultimatetly given up with disgust, as costing more than it comes to.
 It is within the power of every house. keeper to provide the family with pure and sparkling water at the ex- pense of but a few cents year and the smallest amount of attention every day.
 In France the purifying of water in this way is carried on to considera- ble extent and with elaborate and ex- pensive machinery. But with no ma chinery at all the housewife can pro- duce practically the same result.
 Take any vessel you may chance to have handy. I have found stone pot, which you can buy any place for 10 cents, one that slopes down the sides to a small base at the bottom, about the best of anything. Be sure that your vessel Is clean. Fill it nearly full with water from the faucet.
 The rule for mixing the precipitating purifier which you are about to use is 1 to 5000 It Is more than likely that you will have no way to ascertain these exact proportions, but do not let that discourage you. A little experi- ence Is worth good deal in this world, whether the work be done Is compli- cated or simple. A few days of trial in using the separator will serve to guide you all right.
 For a starter, say that to a pitcher holding a quart of water you take g small amount of pulverized alum, about what would go on the rounded point of the blade of a pocketknife, toss 1t into the water and mix it thor oughly. This you can do with spoon, an egg beater or a whip cream churn, The only thing Is to see that the alum Is thoroughly mixed with the water, and 1t takes considerable stirring to do this.
 If you notice little moss islands in the water, which same little islands do not seem to want to go to the bottom with their companions, you will know that you have not properly mixed the alum with the water. AS water costs nothing and the alum but the merest trifle, you can throw the water away and "set" some more. But you need not do this. All you have to do Is to stir 1t all up good again.
 When the work Is properly done the taste. One thing that makes distilled water so unpalatable is the absolutely dead taste it has.
 Another great advantage of water thus prepared Is that 1t is not subject to auto-infection or self contamination, which Is such great enemy to most filtered waters, This water will remain pure even though exposed to the air in open vessels for thirty-six hours,
 Although so small an amount of alum would not hurt you if you were to drink every particle of 1t, be not alarmed. You do not get any of the alum when you drink. for the water upon analysis is found to be chemically free from alum. The alum has settled to the bottom in an insoluble con- pound with the filth and impurities 1t has carried with 1t,
 In half an hour or less you will see a deposit on the sides and bottom of your pan or pot in which you have "set" your water. If you will shake the vessel bit you will see this de posit go to the bottom. If you can spare the time the water should stand for about six hours before it Is de- canted. Then place in clean bottles on the ice.
 In this way you drink a pure, cold, sparkling water without the contami- nation that is bound to come from putting ice in the drinking water un- less the ice has been manufactured from filtered watsr.-Ruth Everett in New York World.