It is interesting and instructive to visit a lock-keeper’s home 
penses of the trip, may lay aside all thoughts of business 
for this limited period. There are many beautiful water- 
ways between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean, 
that have been satisfactorily tested for houseboating; but 
nothing can quite compare with our beautiful, peaceful 
altogether-charming old canals for perfection in  house- 
boating. During the pres- 
ent universal controversy 
on the question of inland 
waterways, there has been 
considerable indignation ex- 
pressed over the abandon- 
ing of certain well-known 
canals, in various parts of 
the country; and a wide- 
spread demand that they 
shall be restored to their 
former usefulness, when 
they can compete with the 
railroads in the reduction 
of freight rates. But these 
picturesque canals, in their 
partial disuse, have served 
a very delightful purpose 
during recent years for an 
houseboat travel, and they 
are simply ideal. With an 
experienced canal mule, or a horse accustomed to the tow- 
path, the problem of motive power is quickly and inex- 
pensively solved; the rental or the building of the house- 
boat will depend upon the permanency of the houseboat 
vacation. If a canal trip by houseboat is to be simply a 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
On the deck cushions under the canvas cover at noontide 
Lodged for the night under the bridge 
special outing for a single vacation, it will be better to rent 
a small houseboat by the week, with the equine motive 
power hired for a corresponding period; and the provisions 
may be collected on the way, through the many towns and 
villages passed en route; with the fresh milk, vegetables 
and fruits bought directly from the farmers whose fertile 
acres border the Weamalk 
When the houseboat is to 
serve as a permanent vaca- 
tion home, to be used year 
after year, it will be better 
to have it built to order, 
with the conveniences and 
makeshifts of its limited 
quarters endeared to the 
possessors by the personal 
supervision in their ar- 
rangement. 
The houseboat on which 
we took our first canal va- 
cation had a bit of interest- 
ing history that might 
serve as a practical lesson 
to many, in solving this 
outing problem. It was a 
zealous, consecrated 
minister, of a compara- 
tively poor church, who owned the tiny but convenient float- 
ing home. Living all his life in a rented home, and chang- 
ing occasionally when the abode had become homelike just 
as a fresh ‘‘call” to a distant church demanded another up- 
rooting of home ties, it became the dearest wish of the 
A fascinating stretch of canal through level country 
Among the ever-changing allurements of the Lehigh Mountains 
