ON THE TOW-PATH.
Captain Letcher regarded his young cousin in surprise.
"Well, Jimmy, what brings you to Cleveland?" he asked.
"I came here to ship on the lake," the boy answered. "I tried first to
get a place in a store, as I promised mother, but I found no opening. I
would rather be a sailor."
"I am afraid your choice is not a good one; a good place on land is much
better than going to sea. Have you tried to get a berth?"
"Yes, I applied to the captain of a schooner, but he swore at me and
called me a land-lubber."
"So you are," returned his cousin smiling "Well, what are your plans
now?"
"Can't you give me a place?"
"What, on the canal?"
"Yes cousin."
"I suppose you think that would be the next thing to going to sea?"
"It might prepare me for it."
"Well," said Captain Letcher, good-naturedly, "I will see what I can do
for you. Can you drive a pair of horses?"
"Oh, yes."
"Then I will engage you. The pay is not very large, but you will live on
the boat."
"How much do you pay?" asked James, who was naturally interested in the
answer to this question.
"We pay from eight to ten dollars a month, according to length of
service and fidelity. Of course, as a new hand, you can not expect ten
dollars."
"I shall be satisfied with eight, cousin."
"Now, as to your duties. You will work six hours on and six hours off.
That's what we call a trick--the six hours on, I mean. So you will have
every other six hours to rest, or do anything you like; that is, after
you have attended to the horses."
"Horses!" repeated James, puzzled; for the animals attached to the boat
at that moment were mules.
"Some of our horses are mules," said Captain Letcher, smiling.
"However, it makes no difference. You will have to feed and rub them
down, and then you can lie down in your bunk, or do anything else you
like."
"That won't be very hard work," said James, cheerfully.
"Oh, I forgot to say that you can ride or walk, as you choose. You can
rest yourself by changing from one to the other."
James thought he should like to ride on horseback, as most boys do. It
was not, however, so good fun as he anticipated. A canal-boat horse is
by no means a fiery or spirited creature. His usual gait is from two to
two and a half miles an hour, and to a boy of quick, active temperament
the slowness must be rather exasperating. Yet, in the course of a day a
boat went a considerable distance. It usually made fifty, and sometimes
sixty miles a day. The rate depended on the number of locks it had to
pass through.
Probably most of my young readers understand the nature of a lock. As
all water seeks a level, there would be danger in an uneven country that
some parts of the canal would be left entirely dry, and in others the
water would overflow. For this reason at intervals locks are
constructed, composed of brief sections of the canal barricaded at each
end by gates. When a boat is going down, the near gates are thrown open
and the boat enters the lock, the water rushing in till a level is
secured; then the upper gates are closed, fastening the boat in the
lock. Next the lower gates are opened, the water in the lock seeks the
lower level of the other section of the canal, and the boat moves out of
the lock, the water subsiding gradually beneath it. Next, the lower
gates are closed, and the boat proceeds on its way. It will easily be
understood, when the case is reversed, and the boat is going up, how
after being admitted into the lock it will be lifted up to the higher
level when the upper gates are thrown open.
If any of my young readers find it difficult to understand my
explanation, I advise them to read Jacob Abbot's excellent book, "Rollo
on the Erie Canal," where the whole matter is lucidly explained.
Railroads were not at that time as common as now, and the canal was of
much more importance and value as a means of conveying freight.
Sometimes passengers traveled that way, when they were in not much of a
hurry, but there were no express canal-boats, and a man who chose to
travel in that way must have abundant leisure on his hands. There is
some difference between traveling from two to two and a half miles an
hour, and between thirty and forty, as most of our railroad express
trains do.
James did not have to wait long after his engagement before he was put
on duty. With boyish pride he mounted one of the mules and led the
other. A line connected the mules with the boat, which was drawn slowly
and steadily through the water. James felt the responsibility of his
situation. It was like going to sea on a small scale, though the sea was
but a canal. At all events, he felt that he had more important work to
do than if he were employed as a boy on one of the lake schooners.
James was at this time fifteen; a strong, sturdy boy, with a mass of
auburn hair, partly covered by a loose-fitting hat. He had a bright,
intelligent face, and an earnest look that attracted general attention.
Yet, to one who saw the boy guiding the patient mule along the
tow-path, it would have seemed a most improbable prediction, that one
day the same hand would guide the ship of State, a vessel of much more
consequence than the humble canal-boat.
There was one comfort, at any rate. Though in his rustic garb he was not
well enough dressed to act as clerk in a Cleveland store, no one
complained that he was not well enough attired for a canal-boy.
It will occur to my young reader that, though the work was rather
monotonous, there was not much difficulty or danger connected with it.
But even the guidance of a canal-boat has its perplexities, and James
was not long in his new position before he realized it.
It often happened that a canal-boat going up encountered another going
down, and _vice versa_. Then care has to be exercised by the respective
drivers lest their lines get entangled.
All had been going on smoothly till James saw another boat coming. It
might have been his inexperience, or it might have been the carelessness
of the other driver, but at any rate the lines got entangled. Meanwhile
the boat, under the impetus that had been given it, kept on its way
until it was even with the horses, and seemed likely to tow them along.
"Whip up your team, Jim, or your line will ketch on the bridge!" called
out the steersman.
The bridge was built over a waste-way which occurred just ahead, and it
was necessary for James to drive over it.
The caution was heeded, but too late. James whipped up his mules, but
when he had reached the middle of the bridge the rope tightened, and
before the young driver fairly understood what awaited him, he and his
team were jerked into the canal. Of course he was thrown off the animal
he was riding, and found himself struggling in the water side by side
with the astonished mules. The situation was a ludicrous one, but it was
also attended with some danger. Even if he did not drown, and the canal
was probably deep enough for that, he stood in some danger of being
kicked by the terrified mules.
The boy, however, preserved his presence of mind, and managed, with
help, to get out himself and to get his team out.
Then Captain Letcher asked him, jocosely, "What were you doing in the
canal, Jim?"
"I was just taking my morning bath," answered the boy, in the same
vein.
"You'll do," said the captain, struck by the boy's coolness.
Six hours passed, and James' "trick" was over. He and his mules were
both relieved from duty. Both were allowed to come on board the boat and
rest for a like period, while the other driver took his place on the
tow-path.
"Well, Jim, how do you like it as far as you've got?" asked the captain.
"I like it," answered the boy.
"Shall you be ready to take another bath to-morrow morning?" asked his
cousin, slyly.
"I think one bath a week will be sufficient," was the answer.
Feeling a natural interest in his young cousin, Amos Letcher thought he
would examine him a little, to see how far his education had advanced.
Respecting his own ability as an examiner he had little doubt, for he
had filled the proud position of teacher in Steuben County, Indiana, for
three successive winters.
"I suppose you have been to school more or less, Jim?" he said.
"Oh, yes," answered the boy.
"What have you studied?"
James enumerated the ordinary school branches. They were not many, for
his acquirements were not extensive; but he had worked well, and was
pretty well grounded as far as he had gone.