May 17, 1902.] 
didn't care to linger. One day of calms got me as far as 
Wood Island, another to Cape Porpoise, and then came a 
run that atoned for all. At 6 A. M., with the wind fresh 
from the north, I ran outside, prepared coffee and a 
couple of eggs, and then settled down for the day. It kept 
breezing, and the old boat tore along at a great pace. 
Off the Nedick Nubble it looked so windy that I hauled 
up a little to run into Kittery if need be, but hating to 
lose such a slant, finally kept her for the Shoals and out 
across the bay. 
The wind had gone to the northeast and was very fresh ; 
the sea was running high, and wbitecaps were gleaming 
in the sun. It was wonderfully clear. Two miles south 
of the Isles of Shoals, from the low level of the deck, I 
could see the land, the whole way from Thatcher's Island 
round through Plum Island, Newburyport, York and 
to the eastward of the Nubble as far as Cape Porpoise. 
The sky was blue— blue to the horizon, which was 
clearly defined — the air was fresh and crisp, the sea, blue 
as the sky overhead, was dotted with whitecaps, and we 
swept along, shooting ahead on the long seas, sliding 
down before their curling tops just before they broke, 
switching the tender along, its nose in the air and half 
full of water. Grand sailing! One day like this takes 
us over our course of the first seven days of the trip. 
I did not leave the helm for lunch. I had a fear of the 
Galveston "breeze" that was on the way, and if this was 
the beginning of it, I wanted to get under cover. 
About 3 o'clock I passed Thatcher's Lights, off Eastern 
Point, a sail astern came up with me (we were on the 
wind now, which had gradually gone to southeast), and 
proved to be the schooner Palmetto, which I had seen 
in Cape Porpoise. Her people looked at the little Sea 
Witch and seemed a little surprised that L had got ahead 
of them, though I had to start three hours before them. 
They went into Gloucester, and I kept on to Marblehead, 
and at 8 o'clock another cruise was a thing of the past; 
gone, in fact, but ever present in memory> and the city 
and streets and hurry now have their turn. But the 
coast with its islands is always there, and the pines and 
the beaches and the fogs and the sea everlasting, they are 
always there, and each year that takes me to them only 
adds another link to the fetters from which I would not 
be freed, a binding love for the free outdoor glorious 
life that the State of Maine can offer. 
friends on board. He is foot free and can move his 
cottage on the water to whatever spot his whim may dic- 
ta As contrasted with a country place or a cottage on 
land, the house-boat has the advantage of a changing 
The Delights of House-Boating. 
BY DR. V. MOTT PIERCE. 
"With the odors of the forest. 
With the dew and damp of meadows, 
With the rushing of great rivers." 
In the pleasant summer evening, lazily swinging in the 
hammock or ensconced in easy chairs on a house-boat, 
could anything be more delightful to the tired man or the 
lazy man that this cottage on the water, with view of the 
country meadows outlining the blue waters? Sunset is 
the time of all others when the house-boater feels that 
he is the happiest of all mortals. It is the time when 
water and land is overcast by the red glow of the setting 
sun, the air filled with dreamy softness, the fish jumping 
out of the placid water as if to emphasize the delight of 
living, while the birds on shore are singing their evening 
songs and the quiet breeze is laden with the perfume of 
flowers and grasses. In the quiet evenings we sometimes 
hang up a few lanterns, get our boatman to play the con- 
certina or some one volunteers to play the aeolian, and a 
little dance on the deck is inaugurated. Bedtime is al- 
ways welcome, and such sleep — a sleep as profound as 
that induced by a narcotic. Morning finds one so com- 
pletely rested that he welcomes the day and is ready to 
take the plunge overboard, with a whole lake for a bath 
tub. 
When we read the above description to a business friend 
he said it might be true in some conditions, depending on 
whether it would or not. He didn't seem to understand. 
He was only a millionaire, and his soul likely has never 
throbbed and thrilled with a true poet's nature. He could 
remember eating a fine dinner on board, but when we 
thrilled with the feelings of a song bird, he could sit 
there like a smoked ham and refuse to enthuse. 
The house-boat offers advantages to both the family 
man and the bachelor, which cannot in some particulars 
be excelled by any 'other kind of dwelling. The family 
man will find that in a house-boat he secures both rest 
and change of atmosphere, and at the same time most of 
the health-giving pleasures of yachting in a way that his 
family can enjoy with him. In this boat the family are 
not cramped for room, as they would be in a yacht, and 
can live more comfortably and with greater pleasure than 
they could on a $50,000 yacht. In a yacht they must be 
cooped up in very small quarters ; beside, there are some 
dangers which are entirely absent in the case of a house- 
boat, for the latter is usually securely fastened in quiet 
waters. . 
For the bachelor the house-boat is a movable home 
where he can repay any obligations by entertaining his 
scene to suit conditions or inclinations. The novelty of 
living in a boat may wear off in time, but certainly a 
change of scene is always practicable and an easy remedy 
for ennui. We have vet to find a person who has lived 
on a house-boat who "has become tired of this mode of 
living. A business man can place his house-boat in ideal 
spots, such as the Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence. 
Lake Champlain, the beautiful lakes of central New York, 
the Great Lakes, anywhere along the seashore, ra the 
many bays, or one of the many inland places reached by 
canals or rivers. If business does not permit of a long 
vacation, he can readily have his house-boat towed to 
some convenient locality near his city and his business. 
Having passed four delightful summers on a house- 
boat, we are still more enthusiastic and ready each spring 
to go aboard; in fact, before the winter is half over our 
family are planning and thinking of the pleasure of once 
more getting aboard ship. For several seasons it has 
been impossible for us to take a vacation of a month or 
8§8 
forcible house-boat, and yet there is no limit to the 
amount that culd be spent in the building and arrange- 
me'nt of a luxurious house. A boy in his teens can build 
a boat for himself at little cost. We knew of a poor, 
hardworking carpenter who built a home for himself m 
this wav, giving his time at odd hours to the work, buy- 
ing his lumber in small lots and picking up a large por- 
tion of it. He had a very comfortable house some 50ft. 
long, which, as he said, gave him a chance to save money- 
Fie had no rent to pay nor taxes, and yet had a desirable 
home summer and winter. 
A peculiar thing about these boats is that they are 
vt-rv warm in cold weather— in fact, the caretaker and 
his' family who live on our boat in the winter and 
throughout the zero weather have told us that they never 
lived in a warmer house, and yet my boat was not built 
for cold weather, and is only lined with matched Norway 
pine. , JLj 
To the prospective builder of a house-boat who is not 
troubled about the first cost, we should advise building 
the hull of iron. It would probably not cost any more in 
the long run, for it would not then be necessary to pull 
the house-boat out of water or dry dock it for caulking, 
and there would never be any bilge water to trouble the 
occupants. It would be quite possible to arrange a wind- 
mill with canvas sails, such as are used on ships in Hol- 
land or Norway, for pumping water into the tank, or 
when wanted to pump bilge water out. A very superior 
method of lighting a boat is with acetylene gas, as this 
necessitates only a very small tank for the making of 
the gas and very small pipes to the different rooms. It 
also furnishes gas for a searchlight. 
Our last suggestion to those who want a cheap house- 
two away from business, and consequently we have been 
compelled to have the Wah-ta-Wah anchored in some 
convenient locality where we could get to business every 
day. After a hard day's work there is nothing more de- 
lightful than getting back to one's home on the water, 
where one may enjoy complete rest and the delightful 
change from the business and heat and dust of the city. 
At night the quiet ripple of the water, the ozone in the 
air, and perhaps the gentle motion of the boat, lulls ope to 
sleep, and two months, of such restful nights and good 
air fits one for "a whole winter of hard work. It is a 
fact that can be demonstrated by inquiry of sailors and 
men who follow the water that few people living on board 
a boat are known to have rheumatism, typhoids, bad colds 
or many of the ills prevalent on land. The house-boat 
eliminates any possibility of bad sewerage or drainage. 
One has all the advantages of fresh air, as in camping 
out, without its many inconveniences, for in the house- 
boat we can have a good kitchen with nice range, ice 
box, a bath tub and convenient washstands. 
A day may be ever so hot on shore, but the house- 
boater knows where he will find a cool spot out on the 
open water and under ample awnings. A few hundred 
yards away on shore the summer boarders may be tanta- 
lized with mosquitoes, or they may be unable to sleep in 
beds in their warm rooms and try to get air by spread- 
ing mattresses in front of windows, but just a little ways 
out on the water where the solitary light shows the house- 
boat to be anchored, every one is slumbering, cool and 
comfortable. The slightest breeze is wafted through the 
windows, and sometimes blankets have to be resorted to, 
so cool does it become at times. 
It does not require a long pocketbook to build a com-' 
boat would be to look for an old barge or canal boat, 
which are often obtainable at a very low cost. Inasmuch 
as business on the canals and waterways of this country 
has not flourished of late years, many canal boatmen are 
ready to sell and a very comfortable home could be built 
on one of these boats. A stone barge could" quickly be 
fitted up as a house : boat at no great expense. 
The house-boat Wah-ta-Wah was built at Buffalo, 
N. Y., after the owner's designs, and intended for a 
•floating summer house for his family. The boat has a 
beam of 15ft., which is as wide as a boat should be 
built on the inland lakes, if the owner ever contemplates 
moving his home down the Erie Canal to the many small 
lakes in Central New York or to the Thousand Islands 
or sea coast. 
The Wah-ta-Wah was built with this ambitious design, 
and is so arranged that the water system supplying bath- 
room and washstands can be pumped from a large fresh- 
water tank, or by simply 'the turn of a cock water is 
drawn from the outside. The upper deck house, which 
makes by far the coolest and pleasantest bedroom or 
lounging room in the boat, is built in sections (to come 
down) so that the boat may clear the low canal bridges. 
The open-air dining room on the stern deck is one of 
the most enjoyable features of the Wah-ta-Wah, and we 
should advise all builders of this class of boat to arrange 
for it if possible. 
The Wah-ta-Wah was the second house-boat to be 
built in the vicinity of Buffalo and the Niagara frontier. 
