2-752-332 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Fountains in Philadelphia', 1874. Horse troughts and fountains in public parks and gardens in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. 'The thirsty wayfarer, whether man or beast, will find no lack of fountains whereat to quench his thirst in Philadelphia. There are scores of these grateful drinking-places on the high- and by-ways of the city and suburbs, some of them, as may be seen by the accompanying illustration, not without a picturesque or artistic beauty and fitness in their design, which does not render the water less refreshing or the pilgrim less appreciative. These street fountains are due to the humane and enlightened labors and taste of a few gentlemen, who, in 1869, formed themselves into a Fountain Society for this beneficent object, and, either through their personal and pecuniary efforts and assistance, or by the influence of their example upon others, these well-springs of wholesome refreshment have been offered to the parched throats of hundreds of thousands of their fellow-creatures'. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American Artists" Vol. II, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1874]