CHAMBERS’S JOURNAL
OF
POPULAR
LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
CONTENTS
OUR CANAL POPULATION.
HELENA, LADY HARROGATE.
CURIOUS THEATRE CUSTOMS IN PARIS.
THE RIVAL LAIRDS.
AN IRISH COUNTRY FUNERAL.
MR ASLATT’S WARD.
THE MONTH: SCIENCE AND ARTS.
TWO HEARTS.
No. 748.
Price 1½d.
SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1878.
OUR CANAL POPULATION.
As much interest has latterly been roused concerningthe population habitually living in theEnglish canal traffic boats, we offer the followingparticulars on the subject from the personalobservation of a correspondent. His narrative isas follows:
After allowing one or two barges to pass, theoccupants of which seemed to be surly ill-favouredfolks, one at length came in sight which answeredour purpose, and we shall begin with it.
A cleanly dressed woman looked up at uswith a pleasant smile upon her face as webade her ‘good-day,’ her husband at the sametime answering our salutation heartily. Whilstwaiting for the lock to fill he came to our sideand volunteered some sensible remarks on thegreat saving of water effected by the use of theside-pound system, which led to a conversationbetween us, and eventually to an invitation tostep on board and go with them as far as Brentford.Accordingly we stepped on board; but atfirst had some little difficulty in bestowing ourperson out of the way of the long tiller, whichswept completely over the available standing-roomin rear of the cabin door, and momentarilythreatened to force us overboard.
When at length we were well under way, andthe man had relieved his wife at the helm, sheinvited us to inspect the interior of their cabin,apologising for its unfurnished state as comparedwith other cabins, on the ground thatshe did not habitually accompany her husbandon his voyages, preferring to stay at home, whenpossible, to keep the house in order. Withno little pride, however, she pointed out theusual arrangement of cupboards, lockers, shelves,hooks, &c., by which the limited space of ninefeet by six was made to contain the utensilsand necessaries for the use of a whole family.As was natural to a good housewife, she dilatedmostly upon the cooking capabilities of a wonderfullysmall fire-place, erected close by the doorway,at which, she averred, she could cook asreadily as at home. We looked sharply roundfor the sleeping accommodation, but failing todiscover anything resembling a bedstead—otherthan the tops of the lockers placed round twosides of