ch. 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 v the 

 average landsman, and on board ship time flies more 

 pleasantly perhaps than anywhere 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. 



