or. i.] Floating Homes. 13 



stand on board a tight little vessel when there is, accord- 

 ing to the poetry of youthful memory, 



" A wet sheet and a flowing sea, and a wind that follows fast." 



In the joy of the moment you do not wonder at the- 

 sea-fights, the brave sailors, and the corsairs of old ; the 

 men who love the sea and can struggle with it through 

 all its moods and phases, will be brave anywhere. If 

 the sea does not nerve a man to brave actions, nothing 

 else ever will. Life on the sea is most refreshing to the 

 average landsman, and on board ship time flies more 

 pleasantry perhaps than airywhere else, if it be true that 

 " sweet do nothing " is the acme of enjoyment. What 

 an appetite the sea-breezes give one for breakfast, which 

 is perhaps of all meals that least enjoyed by inland resi- 

 dents on shore. Our floating cities are the triumphs 

 of modern civilised ingenuity ; and during propitious 

 weather in a warm climate, life afloat possesses for the 

 time a freshness and novelty unobtainable elsewhere. 



