trunks packed and the children ready for a long day's journey by rail,
and the fatigue arising from such a journey, would be reduced to a
minimum. The troubles attendant upon going into a far country, and
leaving one's house in the sole charge of a lot of servants for a month
or two every year, would be done away with entirely; and if at any time
it became necessary to discharge one of these servants, she could be put
off the boat in an instant, and then the boat could be pushed out into
the middle of the canal, so that the discharged domestic could not
possibly get aboard again and take her revenge by smashing your crockery
and fixtures. That is one of the worst features of living in a stationary
house. You are entirely at the mercy of vindictive servants. They know
precisely where you live, and you cannot escape them. They can come back
when there is no man around, and raise several varieties of Ned with your
wife and children. With a movable house, such as the canal-boat would be,
you could always go off and leave your family in perfect safety."

[Illustration: "SHE COULD NOT POSSIBLY GET ABOARD AGAIN"]

"How about safety in a storm?" asked the Bibliomaniac.

"Safety in a storm?" echoed the Idiot. "That seems an absurd sort of a
question to one who knows anything about canal-boats. I, for one, never
heard of a canal-boat being seriously damaged in a storm as long as it
was anchored in the canal proper. It certainly isn't any more dangerous
to be in a canal-boat in a storm than it is to be in a house that
offers resistance to the winds, and is shaken from roof to cellar at
every blast. More houses have been blown from their foundations than
canal-boats sunk, provided ordinary care has been taken to protect
them."

"And you think the canal-boat would be healthy?" asked the Doctor. "How
about dampness and all that?"

"That is a professional question," returned the Idiot, "which I think you
could answer better than I. I don't see why a canal-boat shouldn't be
healthy, however. The dampness would not amount to very much. It would be
outside of one's dwelling, and not within it, as is the case with so many
houses. A canal-boat having no cellar could not have a damp one, and if
by some untoward circumstance it should spring a leak, the water could
be pumped out at once and the leak plugged up. However this might be,
I'll offer another wager to this board on that point, and that is that
more people die in houses than o