Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill http://www.archive.org/details/marcopaulstravelabbott xMARCO PAUL'S TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. MARCO PAUL'S TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE. ON THE ERIE CANAL BY THE AUTHOR OF ROLLO, JONAS, AND LUCY BOOKS. BOSTON; BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY arts, and there was a door in each side. The conductor, however, did not come in at the door, He only looked in at the window, and when he had got the tickets, he climbed along to the next car. " I should think he would fall off," said Marco. " He takes care, I suppose," said Forester ; " but I wish I had asked him something about the packet-boats at Schenectady." " Why, we can find out well enough when we get there," said Marco. THE PACKET. 27 " Yes," said Forester, " but I expect there will be a great competition for passages. The runners will be after us, telling us all sorts of stories, and I should like to hear something about it beforehand." " The runners ?" repeated Marco. " Yes," said Forester ; " the railroad people want travellers to go on the railroad, and the owners of the boats want them to go on the canal. So they each send out men to find the travellers as soon as they come into town, and try to persuade them to go by their conveyance. These men are called runners." " Do you suppose they will be after us ? " said Marco. " Yes," replied Forester, " very probably they will. The boats and cars both go at the same time, I believe, and both want to get all the passengers." " It will do no good for the railroad men to persuade us," said Marco ; " for we shall go in the packet at any rate." Forester was right in his expectation of being accosted by the runners on his arrival at Sche- nectady ; for as the car which they were seated in, was running into the depot, just before the horse had stopped, a man jumped upon the side, and looking in at the window, said, in an eagei voice, to Forester, " Going west, sir ? " " Yes," said Forester. 28 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. " "Will you take the packet, sir ? — carry you to Utica for twelve shillings." At this instant another man applied at the window, just as Forester was taking up his carpet-hag and umhrella. "Take the cars for Utica, sir?" said he. " Run through in six hours." " You can have a good night's rest aboard the packet," said the packet runner. " We will carry you for twelve shillings, sir," said the railroad runner, in a low tone, as For- ester stepped out. " Thank you," said Forester, " hut I have some business along on the canal, and I believe I must take the packet." " "Well, sir, walk right along," said the packet man. " Have you any baggage ? " • Only this," said Forester. The man took Forester's bag and began to push his way through the crowd of persons that were coming and going in the depot, and Forester and Marco followed him without any more words. In fact, the noise and confusion of the bystanders, and the loud hissing of an engine, which was standing there, prevented conversation. Their guide passed out of the depot, and then turned into a busy street, built up closely on each side with stores, shops and taverns. A short distance before them they saw a high bridge. It was where the canal passed under the street. There was a flight of steps, at each side of the bridge, leading down to the banks of the canal. THE PACKET. 29 Forester and Marco followed the runner down one of those nights of stairs, and there they found a packet-boat ready to receive its passengers. The canal was very broad at this place. A canal is usually made broad where it passes through a town. Along the sides of it were walls of stone, and these walls were continued up, under the bridge, high enough to form abutments for the bridge to rest upon. The packet-boat was fastened by a rope to an iron hook in the lower part of the abutment of the bridge. The boat was long and narrow, with a row of windows on each side. There were Venetian blinds, painted red, before these windows, and the boat itself was painted white. This gave it a very gay appearance. Marco said that it was a much handsomer boat than he had expected to find. The top of the boat was nearly flat, being only curved a little from the centre towards each side, so that the rain might run off. There was a very small iron railing, not more than six inches high, along the edges. This deck was four or five feet above the water. At the bows, and also at the stern of the boat, there was a lower deck, with steps to go down to it ; and from the lower deck in the stern, there were other steps leading into the cabin. There was a row of trunks and carpet-bags commenced on the deck, beginning near the bows ; and men were carrying on more trunks, which they placed regularly in continua- tion of this row. The runner stepped from the 3* 30 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. stone wall by the side of the canal, upon the top of the boat, and Forester and Marco followed him. The man put Forester's carpet-bag down with the rest of the baggage, and then he took the umbrella from Forester's hand, saying he would put that in the cabin. CHAPTER III. GETTING ON BOARD. Forester and Marco followed the runner down into the cabin. They found it was a long and narrow room, which occupied almost the whole of the interior of the boat. It looked like a pleasant little parlor, only its shape was very long and narrow. There were seats on the sides, under the windows, covered with red cushions. They extended the whole length of the cabin. There were one or two tables in the middle, with some books and maps upon them. The cabin was divided into two parts by a projection from each of the two sides, which projections, however, were so narrow that they left a very wide opening between them, almost as wide as the whole breadth of the cabin. There was a large crimson curtain hung over this opening, so that when the curtain was let down it would divide the cabin into two distinct parts. When Forester and Marco came in, however, the curtain was up ; the two halves being drawn out to the two sides, and supported there by a large brass curtain knob. Over this curtain there were painted in gilt letters the words, Ladies' Saloon. 32 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. Marco understood from this arrangement that that part of the cabin which was beyond the curtain was intended particularly for the ladies, and that it could at any time be separated from the other part by dropping the curtain. In the middle of the ladies' cabin was a table, with books and a boquet of flowers upon it. There were several ladies sitting upon the cushioned seats at the sides of the saloon. On the table in the gentlemen's part of the cabin was a writing-desk, with a large sheet of paper upon it. This was the way-bill on which the names of the passengers were to be entered. The clerk, who was in the cabin when Forester and Marco came in, took a pencil up from the till of the desk, and said to Forester, " What name, sir ? " " Forester ; and this lad's name is Baron," said Forester. So the clerk wrote Mr. Forester upon the list. Forester observed that there were only two names there before. Under Mr. Forester, ■ the clerk wrote the name Baron. " What time do you go ? " said Forester. " At nine o'clock," said the clerk. Forester looked about the boat a few minutes more, and then went up on deck again, and stepped off the boat upon the bank. " It will be an hour," said Forester, " before we shall go. So we will ramble about the town a little, and see what is to be seen." GETTING ON BOARD. 33 They ascended the long flight of stairs again, which led up to the bridge. When they reached the top, Forester proposed that they should go across the bridge, and look at the canal on the other side. They went to the other side and looked down upon the broad and smooth surface of the water which was spread out below them. The view of the canal extended for some distance, until it was lost by the canal's curving around to the right, where the prospect was intercepted by buildings. On the left side was a sort of street, with the canal on one side and a row of small shops and warehouses on the other. There were a great many men and large boys standing idle in this street, and lounging around the posts which were set near the edge of the canal. There were stalls near, with nuts and oranges for sale ; and children playing with each other, so near the brink of the water that Forester thought they must be in danger of falling in. On the other side of the canal there was a path, called the tow-path. It was for the horses to go in when drawing the boats along the canal. While they stood thus upon the bridge, looking down upon the water, suddenly Marco perceived two horses coming into view along the curve of the tow-path, at a little distance below. They were harnessed one before the other, and were drawing a long rope. A moment afterwards, the bow of a canal-boat, which the horses were 34 MARCO PAUL ON THE EEIE CANAL. towing, appeared, and then the whole length of the boat glided into view. It was not by any means so handsome a boat as the packet which they had taken passage in, and the deck was covered with long rows of barrels. " There comes a load of flour, I suppose," said Forester, " from the west." " Is that flour ? " asked Marco. " I presume so," said Forester. " I know that a very large part of the business of this canal is transporting flour from the west. In fact, that was one of the chief things it was made for. There is a large tract of land in the western part of this state, and all around Lake Erie and the other lakes, which is very fruitful in wheat, and it was thought, if they made this canal, the flour might be brought down very easily." " Did the farmers make the canal?" " No," said Forester ; " the State of New York made it." " Why did they make it ? " said Marco ; " it was not their flour." j " No, — but then the government knew that it would be of great advantage to all the farmers of the state to have the means of bringing their produce to market ; and besides, they knew they could manage it so that the state should get paid again for making the canal." " How ? " said Marco. " By making every one pay toll that comes through with a boat. This man, with his load of GETTING ON BOARD. 35 flour, has had to stop somewhere and pay toll for every barrel. So, if a man owns a packet-boat, he has to pay toll for every passenger." " I should think the passengers ought to pay toll themselves," said Marco. if They do, in fact, for the packet man charges them enough to pay their toll, and also to pay him for carrying them in his boat. But it is more convenient to have the packet master pay once for all, than it is for every man to stop and pay his own toll." " "Why, every man has to pay to the packet man," said Marco. " Yes," said Forester ; " but then he does it at the same time that he pays his own fare, settling for both in one payment, so that it is no additional trouble. So all the masters of the boats have to pay tolls, I suppose, for all the merchandise and all the passengers they carry ; and all these tolls are collected together, and paid to the government of the state, and they make a very large sum every year. But it is not so with the railroad." " Why not ? " said Marco. " Why. the railroad was built by a company of individuals, who put their money together, and they have built the cars and engine too. So that the same parties which own the railroad, own the cars and engine ; and they carry all the passengers and all the freight themselves. They do not allow anybody else to run on their road. But the State of New York does not own the canal-boats. 36 MARCO PAUL ON THE EEIE CANAL. It only owns the canal itself, and it allows any- body to run boats on the canal, if they will only pay the tolls. There is no danger in having ever so many boats go to and fro, because they can pass by one another very easily, but different trains of cars, owned by different parties, would be always coming into collision." " I do n't see how the boats can pass by each other," said Marco. " I should think the horses and the ropes would get entangled." " No," said Forester ; " they have no difficulty ; you will see how they do it, when we go in our packet." Long before this time, the line -boat, which they had seen coming, had passed under the bridge and gone on, out of sight. So Forester and Marco turned away from the bridge, and began to walk about the street. Presently they came to a hotel near the railroad depot, and as they were rather tired of walking, they went in and sat down. Marco began to read a newspaper. Forester saw a desk in one corner of the room where the stage-books were kept, and he told Marco he was going there to write a letter. Forester always carried two or three sheets of white paper, folded in his pocket-book, and also a pen. He had, besides, a little pocket inkstand and wafer-box, so that he could write his letters at any time and place, when he had a few minutes of leisure. He accordingly went to the GETTING ON BOARD. 37 desk and remained there nearly half an hour, writing, and then he folded up his paper and came back and told Marco it was time for them to go aboard the packet. When they came in sight of the bridge, they found a large number of men and boys standing upon it, looking over the railing, or sitting upon the upper steps of the stairs. " What can be the matter there ? " said Forester. " I do not know," said Marco. They went on to the place and looked down upon the canal. The packet was there, in the same position in which they had left ^it. There were, however, a great many more persons on and around it, and the row of trunks and carpet-bags had now extended almost the whole length of the boat, from stem to stern. They could not see that there was any difficulty ; and besides, now they were near, they perceived that the crow T d were calm and quiet, looking as if they were waiting for something to come, rather than inter- ested in anything which was then taking place. " It cannot be," said Forester, " that all these people have come just to see the packet sail ! I should have supposed they would have seen a packet sail often enough at Schenectady, by this time." " I do not know," said Marco, shaking his head, " I do not know anything about it." They passed through the crowd, and went down the steps, and then got upon the boat; 4 38 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. though the space not occupied by trunks was so fully occupied by men that it was difficult for them to move about. At length Forester found a good place to sit down. The seat was a trunk, and there was a roll of carpeting upon the other baggage near, which was very good to lean upon. Here Marco and Forester established themselves, and their attention was soon absorbed in the novelty and interest of the busy scene around them. They had not been many minutes in this posi- tion, when they saw several musical instruments appear at the head of the flight of stairs, which descended from the bridge. There was a bugle, a trumpet, a clarinet and drums. " Ah ! " said Forester, " here comes a band of music. This explains the mystery. The people have come to hear the music." The musicians came down the stairs, and stepped over to the boat and took their stations at the bows. A moment after, they suddenly broke forth in a fine martial air, which made Marco jump up from his seat, so as to get a better position to see. He stood upon a box, gazing alternately upon the trumpeter and the drummer with great delight. Forester might have been expected to have participated, at least in some degree, in this pleas- ure, for he liked martial music very much. To Marco's great surprise, however, he suddenly rose, and taking Marco by the hand, said, . • GETTING ON BOARD. 39 " Marco, come with me. Forester passed rapidly along, wherever he could find an opening through the passengers who thronged the deck, and clambering over the bag- gage, jumped of! the boat to the shore, and began to work his way as fast as he could, wherever he could find a passage through the crowd, towards the stairs, and then up to the bridge. Marco had no opportunity to ask him where he was going. As soon as he reached the street he said, " I have left my little inkstand at the tavern. I shall just have time to run and get it. Come along as fast as you can." " Well," said Marco, " only if they go off before we get back, we shall lose our baggage." " I do not think they will go off," said Forester. " It is five minutes of nine yet. Besides, I pre- sume they will play a little while before they go. At any rate, I must have my inkstand." They hastened to the tavern. Marco remained at the door while Forester went in. He found his little inkstand on the desk where he had left it. The cover was by the side'of it. He seized his lost property, and hastened back to the door, screwing on the cover as he went. " Have you got it ? " said Marco. " Yes," said Forester, " and now we will go Dack as fast as we can." "And if they have gone you will lose your baggage." "No," said Forester, "for we can go by fhe 40 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. railroad, and so get to Utica before the packet, and wait there till it comes, and thus get our baggage. But I think we shall be in time." Forester was mistaken. As they looked towards the bridge they saw the crowd running across, from the lower side, where they had been stand- ing, to the upper side, which indicated very certainly that the packet was passing under the bridge. This was confirmed by the sound of the music, which they could now distinctly hear, gliding along upon the water. Now it happened that just as Forester and Marco were running thus towards the bridge, they perceived another young man before them, having a paper of some sort in his hand, who appeared to be also making his way as fast as possible towards the boat. The people on the bridge, seeing at once that there were passengers left behind, began immediately to shout to the packet. 11 Ho!" said one. " Hold up ! " said another. " Ho-a — H-e-y," cried another. If it had been daylight those on board the packet would probably at once have perceived the truth of the case, and the captain would have ordered the boy, who was driving the horses, on the tow-path, to have stopped. But it was now nine o'clock. There was a moon rising, it was true, which furnished light enough to enable those who were on the bridge to see Forester and the others running, but they could not see them GETTING ON BOARD. " 41 from the packet. And then the loud notes of the music in a great measure drowned the sound of the voices calling upon the packet to stop. The boy who was driving, looked around and slackened his pace, but he had been going very swiftly before, and the boat glided along rapidly with the momentum it had already acquired. Some of the musicians, hearing a hubbub, stopped playing; others went on. In fact, the boat and all connected with it, assumed an expression of the utmost uncertainty and indecision. " We will run on and overtake them," said the young man with the paper in his hand. Forester supposed that he belonged to the boat, and he and Marco followed him. They ran down the bank of the canal on the upper side of the bridge, where they had seen the stalls of nuts and oranges. The canal was here very wide, being expanded into a sort of basin, and as the tow-path was on the opposite bank, the packet was at a considerable distance from them. If they had crossed the bridge before they descended to the bank of the canal, it would have been better, as this would have brought them, upon the tow-path, where they would have been nearer the packet ; and it would have been easy for the helmsman to have steered up near to the bank, so that they might have jumped on. But they had no time to think of this, and thus it happened that they found themselves running along the bank on the wrong side of the canal. 4* 42 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. The packet went slower and slower, and the music ceased. Forester and his party found that they were getting before it. " We will run on here to the next bridge," said the young man, " and then we can get aboard." Forester had thus far supposed that this young man was connected with the boat in some way, and was only endeavoring to stop it, in order that he and Marco might get on board. When he found, however, that he was putting himself to a great deal of trouble, he said, " Oh, it 's of no great consequence, sir ; we don't care particularly about getting on board." " But I want to get on board myself," said the young man. " Do you belong to the boat ?" asked Forester. " No," said the young man ; " but I want to go on her. We will run along to this next bridge, and then we can jump down on the boat when she passes under." " I don't know," said Forester ; " I expect you are more used to jumping off from a bridge upon a canal -boat, than we are." " 0, you can do it," said the young man, " only you must be quick ; she '11 go under like a shot." Forester had no idea of exposing either himself or Marco to any risk. Still they pressed on; half running, half walking, 'for a short distance farther, when they reached at length a long wooden bridge, which here crossed the canal. It GETTING ON BOARD. 43 was old, and high above the water ; and it shook fearfully as they went over it. They had, how- ever, outstripped the packet, for when they got upon the middle of the bridge, they saw it quite behind them, but coming along slowly up the canal. There was also another boat just then coming down the canal, and the horses of the two boats passed each other under the bridge, just as For- ester and Marco were going over above ; and when they got down upon the tow-path, on the other side, the two boats were just shooting under the bridge, one in one direction, and the other in tne other. Marco thought they would certainly come into collision ; and in fact the tow-lines seemed to him already all entangled together. However, the boats did not interfere ; the horses and the tow-lines cleared each other in a moment, and the packet came gliding along, not far from the bank where Forester and Marco were stand- ing. The young man jumped on board and the people who were standing upon the lower deck- at the stern, held out their hands to Forester, and said, " Jump ! jump ! " They spoke eagerly, for the boat was then receding again, and they knew that in a moment it would be too late. Forester saw this too ; but tie did not attempt to jump. He shook his head, and said, " Not I. I have no idea of getting into the canal." 44 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. In fact, Forester felt very easy about his passage now, for he knew very well that after showing so much eagerness to get passengers, the man who had charge of the packet would not go off and leave him and Marco, when it was so easy to slacken their speed and let them get in. If a man arrives at a landing just too late for the steamboat, his case is generally hopeless ; for a steamboat is so large and unwieldy, and it moves, when it is once put in motion, with so great a momentum, that it is seldom worth while to stop for a single passenger. The case is very different with a packet on the canal. As Forester expected, the helmsman put his helm off to the farther side of the boat, and this caused the bows to turn in towards the shore. It came so near that Forester and Marco stepped on board without any difficulty. They made their way as well as they could, among the men who weljjfetill standing upon the deck, to their former position by the roll of carpeting, where they took their seats again. The boy whipped up his horses, the musicians commenced playing the Grand March in Abaellino, the boat began to glide swiftly along, washing the banks with the swell, which followed in her stern, — and behold, Marco and Forester fairly embarked on the canal. CHAPTER IV. NIGHT. The first sensations which Marco and Forester experienced were delightful. They passed almost immediately from the suburbs of the town, into a delightful country, and they found themselves gliding swiftly along among groves and beautiful green fields ; the moonlight shedding a soft and gentle radiance over the whole scene. The tones of the music resounded loud and full in the still evening air, and echoed from the hills. The smooth tow-path lay along the side of the canal, a few inches above the- surface of the water. Be- yond it was a fence, and the full moon, which was just rising on the opposite side of the sky, cast a shadow of the men, standing upon the deck, upon the fence, where they glided along noiselessly like a group of apparitions. In a few moments, Marco saw before him two bright lights, which seemed to be in motion. They were approaching. He soon saw that they were lights in the bow of another boat, coming to meet them. Now he thought that he should have an opportunity to see how one boat could get by another. 46 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. The boat that was coming was a line-boat, that is, one made to carry merchandise. It was loaded with lumber. It was drawn by two horses. The line-boats are usually drawn by two horses, while the packets have three. As the horses were at some distance before the boats, they would neces- sarily meet upon the tow-path considerably before the boats would meet upon the canal. As the two sets of horses approached, the line- boat horses turned off the path a little, on the side of the path farthest from the canal, and then stopped a moment so as to allow the packet horses to go by them. The horses were stopped a moment, in order to let the tow-rope, which they were pulling, fall down upon the path, so that the packet horses could step over it easily. Then, when the boats approached each other, the helmsman on board the line-boat steered his boat out, away from the tow-path, and the helmsman of the packet steered his in, towards the tow-path. By this means the rope of the line-boat came exactly across in the way where the packet was to go, and it seemed as if it was going to cut across the packet's bows. But just before the bows of the packet came against the rope, the boy who was driving the line- boat horses, stopped a moment, and as the line- boat kept moving on after the horses had stopped, it caused the tow-rope to drop down into the water, and it sunk so low that the packet-boat sailed directly over it, without difficulty. The boy began to drive his horses along as soon as the NIGHT. 47 rope was fairly under the boat, and Marco could hear it rubbing along the bottom of the boat, and it came up into the air again as soon as it escaped at the stern. Then the boats were clear of each other, and each pursued its way. Thus it was in all cases, when the packet met the line-boats. They would always check their horses, so as to let that part of the rope which was over the tow-path fall down upon the ground, and that part which was over the canal, sink into the water. By this means, the packet horses could step over the part which would otherwise have been in their way, and the packet itself could sail over that part which would have been in its way. In case the driver of the line-boat horses should not stop his horses quick enough, there might have been danger that his tow-rope would have gone above instead of going under the packet- boat. This would have been very disastrous in its effects, for the rope would have been drawn along with great force over the deck of the packet, and perhaps pull the passengers and the baggage off the decks into the water. To prevent this, there was attached to the bows of the packet, at the top, a hooked knife, shaped like a sickle, with its edge turned towards the front. If now the tow-line of a boat coming the other way were to catch so high that it would slip up instead of down, this hook would catch it and cut it off. Forester explained ' this to Marco, and Marco 48 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. thought it was a very ingenious contrivance. He could not help wishing that a, rope would get caught so, in order that he might see it cut off. But no such case occurred. In fact, the line-boats are very careful to let the rope drop down soon enough. If they are not, their rope gets cut off, and they have to tie it ; and thus in a short time it gets full of knots. Forester and Marco after this remained for some time upon the deck, watching the changes in the scenery, and listening to the music, until at length they found that the evening air began to feel cool and chilly, and then they concluded to go into the cabin. The cabin was nearly full. A great many men were seated on the cushioned seats, which ex- tended along the sides. Others were upon stools by the tables, and some were standing. The captain, who was a very young looking man, not much older than Forester, was just taking his place at the little portable desk which was upon one of the tables, to receive the money from his passengers. Those whose names had been already put down, paid first, and then the others came up one by one, and the captain entered their names as fast as he received their money. The passen- gers were all talking about the crowded state of the boat, and wondering what they were going to do in the night. They said it would not be possible to prepare places enough for them all to sleep. Forester and Marco both thought, from the NIGHT. 49 conversation, that it was unusual to have so large a number of passengers. It took a great while to receive all the money. There was a little calculation to be made in each case, and the change to be given. For the passen- gers were not all going to Utica. Some were going to stop at Canajoharie, some at Little Falls, and some at other places along the canal, and the captain charged each passenger a fare in propor- tion to the distance which he was to go. While the captain was transacting his business in the cabin with his passengers, Marco and For- ester suddenly perceived that the boat began to be thrown, at once, into a state of violent agitation. It rose and fell, and thumped against one side and the other, and Marco could hear a strange rushing sound as of water dashing against it. Marco was startled. His first idea was that the boat had burst her boiler, but this feeling was momentary ; for he recollected in an instant that a canal-boat had not any boiler. " What 's the matter now ? " said Marco, looking alarmed. " I don't know," said Forester. So saying, he began to open the window to see. " We are only going through a lock," said a gentleman who sat near him. " A lock !" said Marco, " let us go and see." By this time, Forester had opened the window. The sash was made to slide along horizontally, that is, to one side, and not upwards like the 5 50 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. window of a house. Outside of the window were the red blinds which have already been described. Forester pushed open one of these, and it went against a wet stone wall. The boat was moving restlessly about, and by watching a moment they perceived that it was rising higher and higher, as they could see very plainly by the seams and stones of the wall. At length they reached the top of the wall, and then Forester could open the blind wide. He perceived a sort of street, which extended back from the top of the wall, with some buildings on the opposite side of it. Marco was very much surprised at this process, though Forester knew before that in passing through a lock, from a lower to a higher level on a canal, the boat first went into the lock, which was a narrow enclosure, surrounded on all sides with high stone walls, and that then water was let in, which buoyed the boat up to the higher level ; and that then the gates were opened and the boat was ready to sail on. He was not, therefore, surprised to find the boat rising, though, as he had never been through a lock before, he was much interested in watching the effects. A moment after the boat had risen to its proper level, it began to move on again, along the canal, just as before. Then Forester drew the blind back and shut the window, as the night air was very cool. " I wonder what has become of our music," said Marco; " let us go and see." NIGHT. 51 " You may go," said Forester. So Marco went up on deck ; but the musicians were nowhere to be seen. Marco saw, however, at a short distance before him, a bridge leading across the canal. It was so low that it seemed to Marco that there was only just room for the boat to squeeze under. He thought that all the men and all the baggage would be swept off the deck by it. He accordingly hastened back to the stern, and got down upon the lower deck, where he could be safe. A moment afterwards, just as the boat reached the bridge, the man at the helm called out, in a loud voice, " Bridge ! " Instantly all the men upon the deck bowed their heads, and to Marco's great surprise they glided under it in safety, and the heads all came up together again, as soon as the boat emerged on the other side. Marco was very much surprised, for it seemed certain, when he first saw the bridge, that it was as low as the top of the boat. This was an optical illusion. Marco afterwards ob- served a great number of other bridges, as the packet approached them, and they all appeared much lower than they really were. Marco perceived that they were sailing up the valley of the Mohawk, as Forester had before said they would do, when they were talking about their intended excursion at Albany. He very often had a view of the river itself, from his place on the top of the boat. Still more fre- 52 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. quently he could see the broad meadows which were upon each side of the river, and which were bounded in the distance by verdant hills. Marco soon felt that it was cold, and so he went into the cabin again. He sat down upon a stool, and began to listen to some conversation between Forester and one or two other gentlemen who were sitting there. He was soon interrupted, however, for the captain, after having finished receiving his payments, and putting away his money, rose and said, " Now, gentlemen, if you will let us have the cabin, we will make up the berths." " W r e shall have to take the tow-path then," said one of the men who were sitting there, " for there is no room for us on deck." The passengers seemed rather reluctant to go on deck. However, a number of them soon rose and moved slowly out of the cabin. Some of them went up on the upper deck ; others crowded around the helmsman at the stern. Forester and Marco went there because they were a little afraid of the bridges. By standing at the stern, they were on the lower deck, and their heads were more evi- dently safe. There would have been little danger on the upper deck, however, for the helmsman always called out " Bridge" whenever the boat approached a bridge ; so that even if a person should happen to be looking the other way, he would not come upon the danger without warn- ing. NIGHT. 53 The helmsman found it somewhat difficult to see which way to steer, there were so many persons standing up before him on the deck. At length he said., in a gentle voice, " The boat would go better, if the gentlemen would go farther forward. She would not draw so much swell after her." Marco and Forester looked at the swell. It formed a great wave, which seemed to dash con- tinually along the banks of the canal, just behind the boat. They understood that the helmsman meant that by crowding into the back part of the boat, the passengers caused that part to sink deep into the water, and thus to increase the swell. " It makes her bows rise right up," said the helmsman, speaking to one of the hands belonging to the boat, who stood near him. The passengers, however, paid no attention to these intimations of the steersman. Forester thought that it was better to have the boat draw a great swell than that he and Marco should get knocked off into the canal, by a bridge. What reasons influenced the others are uncertain, but none of them moved. They all stood in this manner, almost in perfect silence, for about a quarter of an hour. Now and then, two or three who were standing near together, held a little conversation, in an under tone, and frequently Marco pointed out something to For- ester's notice. At length their attention was aroused by hearing a voice coming out from 5* 54 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. among the persons who were standing around the door of the cabin. It called out, " Mr. Forester." " Here," said Forester. " Come forward, Mr. Forester, and choose your berth," said the voice. So Forester made his way, as well as he could, into the cabin, Marco following him. Forester pushed forward rapidly to the upper end of the cabin, and putting his hand upon a berth, said, "I choose this, sir." While he was walking forward, Marco had time to observe the changes which had taken place in the cabin while he and Forester had been out. The curtain was drawn before the ladies' saloon, so that that part of the cabin was now cut off from view. Over the place where the seats had been, that is, along the sides of the cabin, were rows of berths, just wide enough for a man to lie in, and just far enough apart for a man to creep in between them. There were three in each tier ; an upper, a middle and a lower one. Forester chose the middle one, in the tier which was nearest the ladies' saloon. "Very well, sir," said the captain, "you had better get right into it, before anybody else gets it." Then, looking at his paper again, the captain moved towards the door of the cabin and called out, in a loud voice, " Mr. Baron." Marco and Forester both laughed, and Forester, NIGHT. 55 putting his hand upon Marco's shoulder, said, "Here." The captain smiled too when he found that the Mr. Baron, whose name he had announced so pompously, was only Marco. " Very well," said he, " let him take the berth right oyer you. He is young and spry, and can climb." " Shall I undress myself?" said Marco to For- ester in a low tone. 4 " No," said Forester, " only take off your shoes and hat." Marco had some difficulty in climbing up into his berth, and Forester had still more in getting into his. They found that the berth consisted of a piece of canvass stretched ^across a frame, with one sheet and one coverlid upon it. There was also a little square pillow at the head, smaller and thinner than anything that Marco had ever seen for a pillow before. In the meantime the captain went on, calling the other names in the order in which they stood upon his list ; and as fast as the men were called they chose their berths and got into them. The passengers seemed very much disposed to be dissatisfied at the closeness of their quarters. The frames which supported the berths appeared to be very frail, and they creaked and settled as the occupants got into them, as if they were coming down. One man, who was in the middle berth, opposite to Forester's, across the cabin, 56 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. began to punch the lodger who was above him, with his knee ; for the berths were so near together that a very slight flexure of any of the limbs of one in a lower berth, brought an elbow or a knee into contact with the under side of the bed above. " Lie still, down there," said the lodger above. " Then keep off of me," said the lodger below. This dialogue was followed with a loud peal of laughter from all around. In the meantime, the cabin began to get very full, as more and more names were called and the persons answering to them came in from the deck. The voices became loud, and jocose remarks and laughter broke forth in every direction ; and thus before long the cabin became full of confusion, frolic and fun. Marco lay still, enjoying the scene very much. He listened to hear the various sounds which came to his ear from every part of the cabin. Every now and then, the loud voice of the cap- tain, calling out, Mr. Green, or Mr. Williams, or some other passenger's name, rose above the general din. A great deal of the noise was con- fused and indistinct ; but Marco could get catches of the conversation, which, as it came to his ear from various parts of the cabin, sounded some- what as follows : " I wish I had a string to tie up my hat and hang it up ; for there is no place to put it down anywhere." — " Captain, what are you going to do with the rest of us that have not got any berths * " NIGHT. 57 — " Oh, what a pillow ! 'tis n't bigger than my hand." — "Do you kick, sir, in your sleep?" — "Kick! yes, sir." — " For if you do I don't want you over my head." — " Captain, where shall I put my boots ? "— " Mr. Belden." "Here." "Choose your berth, sir." " They 're all taken but that one." — " Gentlemen, don't make such a noise, — I want to go to sleep." — "My pillow is so thin, captain, that it makes my head lower than my heels." These and similar sounds grew louder and more confused, the more Marco listened to them. He was at first much amused ; but he was tired and sleepy. He shut his eyes, and once or twice almost lost himself in slumber. At length he heard a peculiar thump and a dash of water about the boat. He aroused himself and looked up. The noise which he heard was evidently without. It was the noise made by the boat passing through a lock. As soon as Marco understood this, he was surprised to find that the cabin, within, was entirely still. He put his head out over the edge of his berth and looked down. The floor was entirely covered with sleepers. They were lying across the cabin, with their heads upon the cushions, which had been taken off the seats. Their heads were close to the line of berths on one side, and their feet to those on the other. The width of the boat was just enough to let them lie so. They were close together, and the range extended through the whole length of the cabin. They all appeared to 58 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. be sleeping quietly. Marco listened, and when the agitation of the boat, occasioned by its pass- ing the lock, ceased, he could hear no sound except the occasional tread of footsteps upon the deck above him. " It must be midnight," said Marco to himself, " and I have been asleep all this time." The next thing Marco was conscious of was hearing a voice on the other side of the cabin, saying, " Come, Charles, get up." He opened his eyes, and he saw a man standing before a berth, trying to awake the person who was occupying it. " What do you want?" said the man whom he called Charles, in a sleepy voice. " Come, the captain says we must get up." " What for ? " said Charles. " Because, it's morning." Here Marco turned and looked out of the win- dow which was opposite to his berth. It was indeed morning. The sun was gilding the tops of the trees. Just then he saw Forester get out of his berth, and so Marco came down from his too. When Forester and Marco had put on their shoes and hats, they went oat of the cabin. They found the men who had preceded them in getting up, washing themselves from a basin which was placed upon a little bench, near the place where the steersman stood. There was a looking- NIGHT. 59 glass too, hanging in a place where there was just room enough for one person to stand, with a comb and a hair-brush by the side of it. There was a door opened into a little kitchen in that part of the boat, where a black cook seemed to be getting some breakfast. Marco looked at all these things with great interest ; and even Forester re- garded them with some curiosity, but he did not seem to feel much personal interest in these means and facilities for supplying his usual morning wants. Marco, too, as soon as he had once seen these novelties began to look rather sober. It was cold and chilly outside, and everything in the cabin looked cheerless and uncomfortable ; for the room was full of berths and beds, and of persons getting up from them. In a word, both Marco and Forester were satisfied with travelling on the canal. At length Forester said to Marco, in a low tone, as they stood together looking upon the Mohawk river, which at this place was in full view before them, " I've been thinking, Marco, that we had better go ashore at Canajoharie, and take the railroad for the rest of the way." " Well," said Marco. " It is twenty or thirty miles yet to Little Falls, and it will take us five or six hours to go there in the packet. But in about an hour we shall get to Canajoharie, and then we can get out and ramble W MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. around till the cars come along. Then we can go quick and pleasantly to Little Falls." " Well," said Marco ; " but how do you know that the cars go through Canajoharie ? " " Why, I know that the railroad runs up the valley of the Mohawk, and so it cannot be far from the canal and river. I think it will be pleasanter to go that way. And besides, we can then get a good comfortable breakfast at a hotel." So this plan was agreed upon, and Marco and Forester jumped off the boat at Canajoharie. CHAPTER V. CANAJOHARIE. Just before the boat reached Canajoharie, it had to pass through a lock. Forester saw this lock represented on the profile of the canal, which was drawn on a corner of his map. It was plain from the profile that the lock was only a short distance from the village, and so Forester pro- posed to Marco that they should get out at the lock, and walk the rest of the way along the bank of the canal. " Well," said Marco, " I should like it." " By this means," said Forester, " we shall see the place a little better ; and besides, we can warm ourselves by the exercise of walking." So Forester got his carpet-bag and umbrella, and placed them near the stern of the boat, and he and Marco, taking their stand there, watched the progress of the boat as it glided along towards the lock. " And now," said Forester, " we shall have an opportunity to see exactly how they manage the business of passing through a lock." They saw that as the canal approached the lock, it suddenly narrowed and entered between 6 62 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. two high, walls of stone, so near each other thai there was just room for the boat to go in. This was the lock, and at the farthest end of it were two great wooden gates, which closed the passage- way, and Marco did not see how they were to get through. Beyond these gates, Marco could see the canal again, but it stood at a much higher elevation than it did below. The water seemed to press heavily against the gates, and some of it spouted through the crevices. The horses trotted along the bank till they came to the lock, and the steersman steered the boat, so as to carry it exactly in. It seemed as if it was going with all its force against the gates at the head of the lock. In fact, Marco thought it must necessarily do so, for he did not see any possible way to stop it. If it had been a steamboat it might have been stopped by reversing the wheels, but there were no wheels to be reversed in the case of the packet. At this instant, Marco observed a man standing near the bows, at the place where the tow-rope was fastened to a sort of iron staple, of a very curious construction. He had noticed this staple before, and wondered why it was contrived so curiously. He did not see why the rope was not fastened to a simple ring. Now, however, he saw the rea- son ; for the man just touched a spring with his foot, and immediately the rope was loosed from its attachment, and fell off into the water ; and as the horses were still going on, they soon drew the CANAJOHARIE. 63 rope out upon the bank, leaving the boat entirely free. As soon as the man had liberated this rope in this manner, Marco saw that he hastily caught up another large rope, which was lying coiled up upon the bows. One end of this rope was fastened to a staple, in the bow of the boat. The staple, which the end of the tow-rope was fastened to, was at a little distance from the bows, near the side of the boat. The man took the end of the bow-line and clambered up with it upon the high stone wall, which formed the side of the lock ; for by this time^ the packet was gliding along smoothly into the lock. He ran forward with his rope and wound it twice round a strong post which was set in the masonry in a proper place for this purpose, and so he easily checked the boat, just before it would have come into collision with the gates. Then, by means of this rope, he held it in its place, so near the gates that the water which spouted through the crevices, threw its spray over and upon the little low deck which was formed at the bows. As soon as the boat was secured in this posi- tion, a man who was standing upon the bank went to the stern of the boat, and began to shut two great gates which were at that end of the lock. Marco had not observed these gates before. They had been laid wide open, in order to let the packet go in ; and the walls had been built so that the gates, when opened wide, fitted so exactly 64 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. into recesses in the masonry made to receive them, that Marco did not notice them at all. But now they attracted his attention very particularly, as the man was slowly swinging them to, by means of a long timber, which projected over upon the land side, and which operated as a lever. "When these gates were shut, Marco perceived that the packet was closely shut in at the bottom of a sort of deep box, just big enough to hold it, and with walls of solid masonry all around it. The deck of the packet was considerably below the top of the lock. Forester and Marco climbed up from the deck to the top of the wall, and then walked off upon the bank. There was a man just going towards the upper gates. He moved a long iron lever, which was attached to an axis that passed down through the stone work, and this seemed to open suddenly a passage for the water, down near the bottom of the gates. For they observed that there was immediately a great foaming and boil- ing under the bows of the canal-boat, as if the water was rushing furiously in from under the gates. The man moved another iron lever, and afterwards two more, and then Marco could hear and see the water pour in with great force under the bows of the boat. Now, as these lower gates were shut, the water which was thus admitted through the upper gates, from that part of the canal which was on a higher level, could not escape into that part which was CANAJOHARIE. 65 lower, but remained in the lock ; and thus the water in the lock was rapidly rising, buoying the boat up with it. The water rushed in, too, with so much force through the opening in the upper gates, that it dashed tumultuously along the sides of the boat, and caused it to oscillate to one side and the other, and to knock against the sides of the lock. This was the agitation which Forester and Marco had perceived at the time when they were passing through the first lock, when they were in the cabin. After a short time the boat was raised quite high in the lock, and Forester and Marco found- that the water was getting to be nearly as high in the lock as it was in the higher part of the canal above. When, at length, it w r as exactly at the same level, the man swung open the great gates, at the upper end, and then the tow-line was fast- ened to the boat again, and the packet was drawn along. A great many of the passengers had got off when Forester and Marco did, and stood upon the bank, watching the operation. They now jumped on again, though the boat was now elevated so much above its former level that they had to jump up pretty high. They were soon all in their places, and the boat glided away again on its voyage. " Now," said Marco, " how are they going to get all that water out of the lock, so as to let the next boat in ? " " Let us wait a moment," said Forester, " and perhaps we shall see." 6^ 66 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. It happened that just as Forester said this, he observed a line-boat coming down the canal. It was very near, being just at that moment about passing the packet, which was going away from the lock. The upper gates of- the lock were of course open, the packet having just sailed out of them, so that the way was open for the line-boat to sail in. The steersman steered the boat in, and a man from the bows of the boat cast off the tow- line by pressing the spring with his foot, just as had been dene in the case of the packet. He then jumped off the boat and secured the bows by a strong rope, which he wound once or twice around a post that was near the lower gates. The line-boat was now in the lock, just as the packet had been, only it was in a reversed posi- tion, the line-boat having her bows turned towards the lower gates, as she was going down the canal. As soon as she was secured in this position, a man on the banks shut the great gates, at the upper end of the lock. As the water was on the same level on each side of these gates, the gates moved easily through it into the position necessary for closing the passage. The man then went to the lower gates, and by means of some long iron levers, which were fixed there, similar to those which Marco had observed before, in connexion with the upper gates, he opened a passage for the water through the bottom of the lower gates. This let the water off from the lock into the lower canal. CANAJOHARIE. 67 Of course, the surface of the water in the lock rapidly subsided, and the boat settled with it. Marco saw plainly that they were going by this means to let the line-boat down to the level of the canal below. " There," said Forester, " you see how it is done. When the water is entirely down, they will Qpen the lower gates, and let the horses draw the boat out." It was as Forester had said. The water sub- sided rapidly, and the boat settled down with it until it was on a level with the lower part of the canal. The upper gates were shut all the time, so that no water could come in from above, except a little, which spouted through the crevices in the gates. Then the man opened the lower gates, and the way was open for the line-boat to be drawn along on its way. The line-boat was somewhat different in its structure from the packet-boat. It had one or two windows near the bows, and one or two near the stern, but there were no windows along the sides. The reason was that there was not a cabin for passengers extending through the whole length of the boat, as in the packet. For the line-boat was designed to carry merchandise, not passengers. Therefore, instead of a cabin in the centre of the boat, there was a sort of hold to contain merchan- dise, such as boards, or staves, or barrels of flour, which needed no windows. There were no trunks upon the deck, but instead of them, three or 68 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. four rows of barrels, which Forester said he had no doubt were filled with flour, going to New York. There was a woman and little girl sitting upon stools upon the little low deck near the bows. The woman was knitting. Forester said he supposed they were passengers. " Then they have some passengers on board the line-boats," said Marco. " Yes," said Forester; " a few. It is cheaper travelling in the line-boats ; and so some passen- gers go in them." When the line-boat sailed away, Forester and Marco walked along the canal towards the village of Canajoharie, which they saw at a little distance before them. " Now you see," said Forester, " one reason why they need feeders for the canal. Every time a boat goes up or down, they have to lose a lock full of water." " No," said Marco, " they do not lose it, they only let it go from one part of the canal to another." " Still they must lose it, for there must be some place for it to run off, out of the lower part of the canal; and they must also get a supply some- where to take its place in the upper part." " Why must they let it run off'?" said Marco. " If they did not," said Forester, " after a while the lower part of the canal would get full and run over, and when the water overflowed, it would wash away the banks, and make a breach." CANAJ0HAR1E. 69 " Yes," said Marco, " so it would." " So they have places made in the banks of the canal, a little lower than the tow-path, with an edge formed of stone or of timber, so that the water cannot wear it away; and they let the waste water run over these." " I should like to see one," said Marco. " I saw one this morning," said Forester. " Where was I ?" asked Marco. " You were in the cabin," said Forester. " Why did not you call me to come up and see it ? " said Marco. " Because, we had got nearly by it before I saw it," replied Forester ; " and I knew that if I went to call you we should have passed it entirely before you could get up on the deck." " What sort of a place was it ?" asked Marco. " Why, it was a place," replied Forester, " where the bank of the canal was made of timbers instead of earth, and it was a little lower than the rest of the bank, so that the water ran over it all the time, and fell down upon a wooden platform below, and then it ran off into a brook. I believe such a place is called a waste weir." Marco said that he wished he could see a waste weir very much, and Forester said perhaps they might come to one on their way to Canajoharie. " At any rate," said Forester, " we will notice the canal wherever we see it until we find one. I presume there are a great many along the canal at different distances ; for it is very important to 70 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. keep the water at about the same level. So they have feeders to keep the water from getting too low, and waste weirs to prevent its rising too high." After this, Forester and Marco walked along a few minutes in silence, and at length Marco said, " What are we going to do, cousin Forester, when we get to Canajoharie ?" " The first thing," said Forester, " is to find a tavern, and get some breakfast." "And what next?" " The next thing is to find the railroad station, and to inquire what time the cars come along." 11 How do you know that any cars are coming along ? " " Because," said Forester, " I know that the train leaves Schenectady every morning at nine o'clock, and that it goes through in six hours ; and I see by my memorandum that Canajoharie is about half way from Schenectady to Utica ; so I presume that a train will come along here, about twelve o'clock." " And how do you know that the railroad passes anywhere near here ? " " Because," said Forester, " I know that it comes up the valley of the Mohawk. The rail- road goes up on one side of the river and the canal on the other." " Then how are we going to get across the river?" asked Marco. " There must be some way to get across," said Forester. " Perhaps there is a bridge." CANAJOHARIE. 73 There was a bridge. It soon came into view. It was covered with a roof, and the sides were boarded up. It looked rather old. There was a village *on the canal side, where they then were, and another village on the other side. They could see both villages as they walked along between the canal and the river. " Which village shall we go to ?" said For ester. " I do not know," said Marco. " The one on this side looks the largest, but the- one on the other side will be nearer the railroad," said Forester. " Then let us go to the other side," said Marco. "Besides, I should like to see the bridge." Forester concluded to adopt this plan, and they turned off towards the bridge, when they got opposite to it. When they got in, under the roof, they saw before them at the opposite end that the passage was closed by a great gate. When they reached the gate a young woman came out from a door in a building attached to the bridge. " Is there a toll to pay ? " said Forester. " Yes, sir ; two cents each," said the girl. Forester took out the money, and while paying me toll, he asked her where the railroad was. "Right down here, under the bridge," said the girl. So she opened a small gate in the large one, and let Forester and Marco go through. As soon as they came out into the open air, they saw th& • 7 74 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. iron lines of theTailroad, laid along upon the level ground, near the shore of the river, far below them. There was a flight of steps to go down. Forester asked a man who was standing there, at what time the train would come along from Schenectady. He told them it would come at half-past eleven. Then Forester and Marco went up the hill to the village, where they stopped at a tavern, and got a good breakfast. ■ ■ CHAPTER VI. HONESTY. After Forester and Marco had finished their breakfast, they rambled about for a time to see the village of Canajoharie. They were very much interested in examining some stone arches on the canal side of the river. These arches were evi- dently part of an unfinished work, which was then in process of building, though Forester could not tell exactly what the work was. At one place, Marco and Forester saw a woman weeding in a garden. They stopped and looked over the fence. The corn in this garden was much higher than the other corn which Marco and Forester 'had seen along the canal ; and as Forester thought the woman seemed pleased to have them notice her garden, he said to her, " Your corn has grown very well." The woman looked up and smiled, and said something in reply ; but neither Forester nor Marco could understand her. It seemed to be only a single* Word that she spoke, but they could not understand what the word was ; so, after look- ing at the garden a minute or two longer, they walked on. 76 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. They came, a moment afterwards, to the house to which the garden belonged. There was a little shop in one corner of the house ; over the door was a sign, with a boot and a shoe painted upon it, and also some words which Forester thought were Dutch or German. " Ah ! " said Forester, " I presume that woman is a German, and dees not understand English ; and so she did not know what I said when I spoke to her. I recollect now that I have heard that there are a great many Germans in the val- ley of the Mohawk, and that some of these green meadows are called German flats." Forester and Marco walked along, and being at length tired of rambling, they concluded to go to the railroad station, and to wait there until the cars should come. They accordingly went down the stairs at the end of the bridge, to the broad and level area, which extended up and down the river, and under the end of the bridge, and on which the tracks of the railway were laid. There were three or four tracks at this place, as is usual at stopping places on railroads. This made the road very wide. On the side opposite to the river, the land rose abruptly towards the village. On the other side there was a narrow space of level land, and then there was a rocky descent down towards the water. On this narrow space Avas a small building, with a piazza before it. There w T as a room within to accommodate passengers w T hile waiting for the trains. HONESTY. 77 Forester and Marco had just finished examining this locality, when suddenly they heard the noise of an engine approaching. It was coming down the road, and presently it appeared with the train which it was drawing, under the hridge ; for the office where Forester and Marco were standing was on the lower side of the bridge. This train consisted of such cars as are used by workmen along the road. They looked like square carts on railroad wheels, only instead of being open behind, like a farmer's cart, each one was open at the side. There was a workman seated upon each one of these cars, at the open side, with his feet hanging down between the wheels. This train passed rapidly by down the road, and was soon out of sight. Just at this time, Marco happened to observe a small sail-boat with some boys in it, out upon the river. While he was looking at it, two other boys came down the railroad, under the bridge, and when they got to the corner of the office where Forester and- Marco were standing, they saw it too. One of these boys was much smaller than the other, and wore a straw hat. " See," said the small boy, " there are some fellows out there that have got a boat." " Yes," said the other boy ; " let's go and have a sail with them." " They won't let us get in," said the small boy. The boys looked at the boat a minute or two in silence, and then thev crept down the bank, near 7* 78 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. some bushes, where they could see it better. Still, they were not so far off as to prevent Marco and Forester from hearing their conversation. "I'll tell you what we'll do," said the large boy ; " we '11 cut some poles here in the bushes, and go down to the bank, opposite to where they are, and call out to them to let us come on board ; and then you know they'll see our poles, and think they are fishing poles. Then they'll come and take us on board, because they '11 want to see us fish." " Well," said the small boy, " I will lend you my knife." So he took out his knife, and the boys both went into the bushes. In a few minutes they came out again, with their poles. " Where is the boat ?" said the small boy. " I see it," said the other. " They have gone down the river," said the small boy. " We will go along down till we get opposite to them." So the boys walked off, with their poles over their shoulders. " Let us go too." said Marco, " and see if they come ashore." " No," said Forester, u we will go up the steps to the bridge, and then we can see." When Marco and Forester got pretty near the top of the stairs they could see the boat very dis- tinctly, and also the two boys with their poles, HONESTY. 79 who were just going down the bank to the edge of the water. They could also hear their voices, though they could not distinguish what was said. However, Marco soon perceived that the cun- ning device of the two boys upon the shore was successful ; for the boat very soon turned in, and proceeded' rapidly towards the shore. " That was a good way," said Marco, " to make the boys let them get into their boat." " Not very," said Forester. " Why, I think it was very ingenious, indeed," said Marco. " Yes," said Forester, " it was ingenious ; but an ingenious plan is not always a good plan." " Why was n't this a good plan ? " said Marco. " Why, those boys," said Forester, " deceived the others, and now they will not be trusted another time. They have got a sail, but they have lost their character ; and to lose one's character, for the sake of a sail on a river in a sail-boat, is a very bad bargain. It is very seldom wise to attempt to gain anything by deception." " It is never wise, is it ? " said Marco. " Yes," said Forester. "How?" said Marco. " Why it is wise," said Forester, " to put a chalk egg under a hen, for a nest egg, and that is deception ; it is deceiving the hen." " O, I didn't mean that," said Marco. " No ; I know you did not mean that, but still, if I had said it was never right to attempt to gain 80 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. anything by deception, it would have included that. Whenever we say anything in a sweeping and unqualified manner, we are in great danger of including something which we don't intend." " But," said Marco, " it is never right to deceive men or hoys, is what I mean." "Very well," said Forester, "I don't dispute that." " And yet, you deceived me once," said Marco. " When ?" asked his cousin. 14 Why, when you took me to the dentist's to have my tooth taken out, without letting me know where I was going." Marco referred to an incident which occurred just before he left the city of New York with Forester, when Forester took him to the dentist's without letting him know where he was going until he actually entered the dentist's room. " Do you think I deceived you then ? " asked Forester. ■ Why, yes," — said Marco ; " did n't you ? " " We must make a distinction," said Forester, " between deception and concealment. I con- cealed from you that we were going to a dentist's, but did I do anything positively to deceive you ? " " Why, no," said Marco. " I do n't know that you did." " I am very unwilling to resort even to conceal- ment, in the government of a pupil," said Forester ; " but I should think deception absolutely wrong. I do n't think I shall ever attempt to deceive you ; and T shall never attempt to conceal anything HONESTY. 81 from you, in such a way as I did then, unless it is absolutely necessary. I should have pre- ferred some other mode, if it had been possible to adopt any other." " What other mode ?" asked Marco. " There are two plans which I should have preferred," replied Forester. " The best plan of all would have been for you to have told your mother that you would go at any time, of your own accord, and have the tooth extracted. But that you would not do." " And what would have been the next best plan ? " said Marco. " The next best plan would have been," said Forester, " for me to have told you frankly that you must go with me to the dentist's, even if you were unwilling, and then to have taken you there in an open manner." " And why did not you adopt that plan ? " asked Marco. " Because," replied Forester, " I was afraid to run the risk of it. I did not know how far jovl would carry your opposition. I thought that per- haps you would absolutely refuse to go, or if I took you there in a carriage, refuse to get out, and so compel me to have you taken out by force. That would have been exceedingly unpleasant, you know. So I was compelled to conceal from you where I was going ; but I was very careful not to do anything to deceive you about it. That would have been more than the trouble of taking you out of the carriage by force." 82 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. "Why?" said Marco. " Because," replied Forester, "when you found that I deceived you, you would have distrusted me another time, and I am very unwilling that you should distrust me. I think it probable that you will sometimes attempt to deceive me ; but I do n't think that I shall ever do anything to deceive you. If that should be so, you will soon get into the habit of placing confidence in me, but I shall lose confidence in you." " You do n't seem to have much confidence in me now," said Marco, " if you think beforehand that I shall try to deceive you." Forester smiled. " I have heard," said Marco, " that persons ought to be thought innocent until they are proved guilty." " No," said Forester, " that is not exactly the rule." " What is the rule, then ? " asked Marco. " People ought to be treated as if they were innocent," replied Forester, " until they are proved guilty." " Well," rejoined Marco, " is not that the same thing?" " No," said Forester. " There is a great differ- ence between believing that people are innocent, and treating them as if they are innocent. Per- sons ought not to be punished or censured until they are proved to have done wrong, — but we may suspect them, or even believe they are HONESTY. 83 guilty, when we have reason to believe it, even without absolute proof. Now I have considerable reason to believe that you are not a perfectly honest boy. At the same time I have no positive proof of your dishonesty in any case that has occurred since you came under my care, and therefore I treat you as if you were innocent, do I not?" " Yes, sir," replied Marco. " But then," continued Forester, " it would be very foolish for me to believe that you are honest, when I have no reason for believing it. That would be only to expose myself to be deceived." Marco did not answer. " Your mother believes that you are an honest boy, doesn't she ?" asked Forester. " Yes," replied Marco. " I suppose she does." " And is n't she exposed to be often deceived by you on that account ? " Marco did not answer. " Mothers are very unwilling to believe that their sons can deceive them. That is one reason why it is particularly wrong for a boy to attempt to deceive his mother. It is making a very ungrateful return for her kindness and confi- dence. " Besides," continued Forester, after a short pause, " it is very unwise to attempt to gain any- thing by any false pretences ; for such a course soon destroys one's character. And a good char- acter will help a boy get a great many more 84 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. enjoyments than any cunning. Cunning will last a little while, hut soon exhausts itself; hut character will last always. If you could establish a good character with me, so that I could trust you implicitly, I should be able to allow you a much greater degree of liberty than I could if I sus- pected your honesty. I had a boy with me once who lost his character by one single act of de- ception." " What was it ?" asked Marco. " Why, he knew another boy, who was going one afternoon into the woods a gunning. It was in raspberry time. There are a great many raspberries in the pastures and woods in Ver- mont." " Is it raspberry time } r et, in Vermont ? " asked Marco. " No," replied Forester. " Raspberry time will not come this month yet. Now Charles," con- tinued Forester, " Was the boy's name Charles ?" said Marco. " Yes," replied Forester, " and he wanted to go into the woods with this boy to see him shoot birds. He also wanted to fire the gun himself once or twice, if the boy that had the gun would let him." " What was the boy's name that had the gun ?" asked Marco. " Jeremiah," replied Forester. " So Charles came to me and asked me if he might go a rasp- berrying with Jeremiah. I told him, yes. And HONESTY. 85 afterwards I found that he had been a gun- ning." " Is there any harm in going a gunning ? " asked Marco. " It is too dangerous an amusement for boys," said Forester. " Charles knew very well that I should not have let him go, if I had known that there was to be a gun in the case." " It seems to me that that was concealment, and not deception," said Marco. " It was pretty near the line between the two," replied Forester ; " and yet I think it was a decided case of deception. For when he asked me to let him go a raspberrying, he meant to lead me to suppose that that was really the object of the excursion." " How did you find out that they went a gun- ning ? " asked Marco. " Why, first," said Forester, « I noticed some- thing in his air and manner when he asked me to let him go, which did not appear quite frank arid open. I did not pay particular attention to it at the time, but I recollected it a few minutes afterwards. Then I thought that I would go after him, at a distance, so as to keep out of his sight, and yet see where he and Jeremiah would go, and what they would do." " Well," said Marco, " and did you do it ? " " No," replied Forester; " on second thoughts I concluded that I would not resort to any secret means to discover the truth, but would proceed in 8 8b MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. a frank and open manner. So I did nothing about it till he came home that night, and then I took him with me to walk in the garden, and there I told him that I had some reason to suspect that he had not been quite honest with me, but that he had had some other object in view that afternoon, in going away with Jeremiab, than to get raspberries." " And what did he say ? n asked Marco. "Why, he held down his head and looked guilty, and then presently said that he had been a gunning." Here there was a pause, during which Marco seemed to be seriously reflecting on what he had heard. " It is always best to be honest," said Forester ; " and I intend on my part always to be honest with you. Whether you will always be honest with me or not, time will show." CHAPTER VII. THE PASS OF THE MOHAWK. While Marco and Forester were silting thus upon the stairs engaged in conversation, they suddenly heard the sound of a locomotive coming up the road. " There come the cars," said Marco. " It sounds like a locomotive," said Forester ; "but it cannot be time yet for the train from Sche- nectady." '* It is coming at any rate, if it is n't time," said Marco ; " I can see it through the trees." " It' is a freight train," said Forester. There are two kinds of trains of cars drawn by locomotives upon railroads, one to carry passen- gers and the other merchandise, which is called in such cases freight. Forester thought, from the appearance of this train, that it was a freight train. " No," said Marco, " I know what it is now ; it is that train which went down a few minutes ago, with workmen in each car. See, they have got the cars all filled with stones." g the canal," said the man, " where trie horses are put up. You would ride from one station to another." " And then how long should I rest?" " You would rest till it came your turn to go out again ; sometimes an hour, and sometimes a day. First in, first out, is the rule." Marco could not understand the old man's account of the system hy which the boats of a line are towed along the canal. But he received trie idea that the driver's life was a very irregular one ; and he saw at once that it must be a life of great exposure and fatigue. " How many hands does it require to manage a line-boat ? " asked Forester. " Why, there is the captain, and the bowsman, and the steersman, and the cook. Though the cook is generally a woman. If they go night and day, they must have a double set." " What does the bowsman do ? " asked For- ester. " Why, he takes care of the tow-rope," said the man, " and sees to securing the boat in the lock when she is run in." " Here comes another boat," said Marco. "Yes," said Forester, "and it is getting dark; so I think Ave had better go back on her." So Forester gathered up and put away his drawing materials, and then he went and found the captain and gave him a little change to pay for the passage which he and Marco had had in 12 134 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. his boat. Then they bade the old man good-bye , and they also nodded to the German woman and her child, though they knew it would do no good to say any words to them. By this time the two boats were opposite to each other, and Forester and Marco stepped across to the one which was going down the canal ; and in the course of half an hour they w T ere landed at the lock opposite to the aqueduct, at the village of Little Falls. As they were walking along towards the hotel, Marco said that he was sorry that their map was torn up and spoiled. " That is no great calamity," said Forester. " Besides, I can tell you a way by which you can make it useful, yet." " How ? " asked Marco. " Why, I have been thinking," said Forester, " that when we get home to Vermont, I should let you take for one of your first exercises, an essay on the Erie canal." 5! I don't know how to write essays," said Marco. " So I supposed," replied Forester, " and there- fore I was going to let you learn. I thought I would make you a small book, and let you write in it all that you can remember about the Erie canal. And you can have two maps in it now; for you can cut out of this torn map the profile of the canal which is in one corner, and also that part of the middle of the map which contains the course of the canal. These you can paste on THE STEERSMAN. 135 fresh sheets of paper, so as to get a new margin around them, and then make a new border with a pen. Then I will show you a way to paste and fold them into your book, and so you will have an essay on the Erie canal, illustrated with a pro- file and a map." Marco smiled at this proposal, and said that he should like it very much. After this there was a pause for a few minutes, until they had nearly reached the hotel. Then Marco broke the silence, by saying, . " I should like to understand. German, cousin Forester." " So should I," said Forester, " and I intend to learn it." " Do you think I could learn it ? " asked Marco. " Certainly," said Forester ; " you are better able to learn German than that little child is ; and she is learning it very fast." CHAPTER XL THE OUTLET TO THE HUDSON. It was nearly nine o'clock when Forester and Marco reached the hotel. They remained there till half past ten, waiting for the night train which was coming down from Utica. The hotel was quiet and solitary, though preparations were made to receive a large company of guests when the train should arrive. The long table in the hall was covered with refreshments, as it had been in the morning ; and the waiters walked to and fro in expectation of the arrival of the company. At length the sound of the engine was heard, and a few minutes afterwards the great train, borne on its twenty or thirty heavy iron wheels, came rolling on, in front of the hotel. The passengers came out and poured into the house, renewing the scene of noise and confusion which Forester and Marco had witnessed in the morning. While this confusion was at its height, our two travellers took their seats in one of the cars. There was nobody in it. It was marked over the door " Way Passengers." Marco expected thai somebody would come to get in before the train should start; but no one appeared. When the THE OUTLET TO THE HUDSON. 137 signal bell rang, the conductor came and shut the door, and the train began to move, leaving For- ester and Marco a whole car to themselves. There were two seats in the car, a front and a back seat. They each took one and laid them- selves down. In a few minutes they were both asleep, and though Forester awoke, at intervals, when the train stopped at the various villages on the way, Marco slept soundly through the whole, being entirely insensible to everything that passed, until Forester aroused him and told him that they had arrived at Schenectady, and that it was morning. A few days after this, our travellers came to Tro) . If the reader will look upon the map, he will find that Troy is on the North river, a few miles above Albany. Troy, as well as Albany, is a considerable city; and it transacts a great deal of business by means of the canal. For it will be seen, by looking upon the map, that the Mo- hawk river empties into the Hudson but a short distance above Troy ; and as the Erie canal follows the valley of the Mohawk down to the Hudson, the canal itself comes out to the banks of the Hudson nearly opposite to Troy. It is true that the canal does not terminate here. By looking again upon the map the reader will^see that when the canal reaches the banks of the Hudson it turns and follows the river down to Albany, where it finally terminates in a great basin which opens upon the river. 12* 138 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. There is, however, a communication between the canal and the river at Troy. So that the boats, after they come through the canal, can come out into the river at Troy ; or they can continue in the canal until they get down to Albany, and then come out into the river, through the great basin there. Albany is upon the West side of the river, which is the same side with the canal. But Troy is upon the East side. Therefore, if a canal-boat is going to Albany, it is not obliged to cross the river ; but if it is to stop at Troy, it comes out of the canal into the river on the side opposite to Troy, and then they have to push the boat across the river with poles ; for there cannot well be a tow-path made over a river so that horses can go across. There is a ferry, however, at the place where the boats cross, by which men can go over at any time ; and a small town has grown up on the west side of the river where the canal comes down. This town is called West Troy. Marco and Forester knew something of this, when they stopped at the hotel in Troy. That is, they knew that the canal passed along on the west bank of the Hudson opposite to Troy, and that there was a communication there between the canal and the river ; but they did not know pre- cisely where this communication was, or which way they were to go to find it. " We must get across the river, at any rate, for the first thing," said Forester. " We will go THE OUTLET TO THE HUDSON. 139 down to the shore somewhere, and look up and down and see if we can see a bridge." There was a row of four-storied brick stores on each side of the street which they were walking in, which prevented their seeing the river. They, however, soon found a way to go down to a land- ing where they could look up and down the stream. There w T as no bridge to be seen down the river, towards Albany ; but they saw one about a quarter of a mile above them, — very long. It was covered and it looked very beautifully, as Marco thought, extending in a perfectly straight line for a great distance over the water. Forester and Marco then left the landing and w r alked up the river in the direction of the bridge. When they came to enter it they were astonished at its length. It was divided into two parts; one half was for the railroad track, and the other half for common carriages. By the side of the rail- road track was a sidewalk for foot passengers. When they had reached the end of the bridge, they came out into an open country, with several roads before them, and they were at first a little uncertain which way to go. They observed, however, the appearance of a town in a certain direction down the river, and they concluded to go that way. They had not proceeded far before they found themselves on the bank of the canal. But it looked very different here from what it had done beyond Schenectady. It was a great deal wider, and the banks, instead of being covered 140 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. with grass and the foliage of trees, were bare and gravelly. It was because they had lately been enlarging the canal at this place, to make more room for the boats to pass and repass. Forester and Marco walked along upon the tow-path until they came to the town of West Troy. Here they found two or three large and handsome bridges leading across the canal. Here too was a side cut leading from the canal into the river. " Now," said Forester, " we can see how they get the boats in and out between the river and the canal." There was a small basin just below a bridge, on the side of the canal towards the river ; and a* the end of this basin there was a lock which led towards the river. Below this lock was a short canal, which led to another lock, and this second lock opened out directly upon the waters of the river. There was a boat just coming into the lower lock. " See," said Forester, " there is a boat coming from the river into the canal ; let us go and see them lock it up." So Forester and Marco followed the side canal till they came to the second lock. They saw the boat come up through this lock, and thence to the second lock, where it was raised again. At this second lock it was raised to the level of the basin. The men then opened the gates and fastened the horses to the boat. The driver mounted one of THE OUTLET TO THE HUDSON. 141 them and drove under the bridge ; and thus the boat was drawn along through the basin into the canal. Thus Marco and Forester saw a canal- boat locked up from the river into the canal at Troy. " I wonder what the canal-boats go down into the river for ? " asked Marco. There was a man standing near the gates of the lock when Marco asked this question. He seemed to have the charge of the lock, for he had opened and shut the gates when the boat went through. When he overheard what Marco said, he replied, " Some of them go over to Troy to unload, and to take in a fresh cargo for the west ; and some of them go down the river to New York. They are towed down by steam-boats." " Ah ! " said Forester, " I did not know that the canal-boats went down to New York. I thought that all the merchandise came up in sloops." " That used to be the way," said the man, " but slooping is pretty much done with. They take the freight up and down by canal-boats and by tow-boats." While this man had been speaking, Forester had observed a lock connected with the basin, which had a roof over it. It was by the side of the lock which led to the river. There was also a building at the side of it which had one or two public offices in it. Forester observed, also, some 142 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. singular machinery over this lock, under the roof. He asked the man what it was for. " That is the weigh lock," replied the man, " where they weigh all the boats." " Weigh them ! " asked Marco ; " how do they weigh them ? " " They float the boat into the lock," replied the man, " and then they shut the gates behind it, and draw off the water. This lets the boat settle down upon a frame, where it rests poised, so that they can weigh it." So the man very civilly conducted Marco and Forester along to a door which opened into a small room in the middle of the building that stood by the side of the lock ; and there they saw a large quantity of weights. They saw some apparatus there too which was apparently con- nected with the machinery for suspending the boat. " But that method weighs boat and cargo all together," said Forester. " How do they know what part of the whole weight is the cargo ? " " Oh, the weigh-master has the weights of all the boats on his register. They first weigh the boats when they are empty, and put the weight down upon the register, which is kept in the office. So they can deduct that, whenever the boat and cargo are weighed together." " I should like to see them weigh a boat," said Marco. " So should I," said Forester. THE OUTLET TO THE HUDSON. 143 " I expect there will be one along pretty soon," said the man ; " they are coming all the time." So the man began to look around up and down the canal ; but although there were a great many boats in sight, there seemed to be none coming just then to be weighed. Forester then thanked the man for the informa- tion which he had given them, and then they con- cluded to go up upon a bridge which crossed the canal just above the basin, and look at the boats as they passed along. This bridge had a covered way for carriages in the centre, and two sidewalks outside of the covered way. The roof extended over the side- walks, bat there was no wall on the outer side of them ; so that, standing upon one of these side- walks, a passenger had a fine view of the canal. From one of the sidewalks one could look up the canal, and from the other down the canal, towards Albany. There were a great many boats in sight from either of these sidewalks. Some were passing to and fro, under the bridge. Others were sta- tionary, fastened to posts set in the bank of the canal ; for the canal was so wide that there was room for a tier of boats to lie along the side of it, and yet allow room for the other boats to pass. There was one boat in the basin, discharging a cargo of flour. There were several long rows of barrels lying upon the bank, and they were hoist- ing out more. They had a sort of mast raised, 144 MARCO PAUL ON THE ERIE CANAL. with ropes to brace it, and there was a tackle attached to the top of it. With this tackle they hoisted the flour out of the hold of the boat. Some of the boats had women and children on board. One had a horse looking out of a window at one end and a baby at the other. There was a little room at each end, and the whole middle of the boat between these two rooms was filled with bundles of shingles. Another boat, which attracted Marco's attention, was a large flat-bottomed sort of scow, shaped like the Skipjack. There were loose planks, black and decayed, forming a floor at the bottom. Marco said it looked like a barn afloat. It came gliding under the bridge, and when the stern came into view, Marco saw that there was a little building erected in it, in a very coarse manner. The building looked like a little shed. There was a door in the end of this little shanty, and as the boat passed farther on, Marco saw a woman in it setting the table for tea. Marco and Forester amused themselves for half an hour observing the various boats, and witness- ing the little incidents which were constantly occurring. Then they came down to the shore of the river, where they found a boat, and a man to row them over the ferry. The river was full of fleets of canal-boats which had been here let out into the Hudson.