Litchfield enquirer., 1874-10-29

nlceiy furnished. There was kitchen, a llving-room. a parlor and bedrooms. There were all sorts of conveniences-car. pets on the floors, pictures, and every thing, at least it seemed to us, to make a home comfortable This was not all done ; at once, the oyster-man told me. They , had lived there for years and had gradu- ally added this and that until the place ! was as We saw it. He had an oyster-bed out III the river and he made cider in the winter. but where he got the apples l don't know. There was really no reason why he should not get rich ill time.
 Well, We went ali over that house and we praised everything so much that the oyster mans wife was delighted, and when We had some stewed O, sters afterward, - eating them at little table under tree near by,-I believe that she picked out the very largest oysters she had, to stew for us. When we had finished our SUD- per and had paid for 1t, and were going down to take our little boat again,-for we had rowed up the river,-Euphemia 1 stopped and looked around her. Then she clasped her hands and exclaimed in an ecstatic undertone:
 "We must have a canal-boatr'
 And she never swerved from that deter imitation.
 After I had seriously thought over the matter, could see no good reason against adopting this plan. It would certainly be a cheap method of living, and it would really be housekeeping. I grew more and more in favor of 1t. After what the oys- ter-man had done, what might not we do? He had never written book on house. keeping, nor, in all probability, had he considered the matter, philosophically, for one moment in all hls life.
 But 1t was not an easy thing to find a canal-boat. There were none advertised for rent-at least, not for housekeeping purposes.
 We made many inquiries and took many a long walk along the water-courses in the vicinity of the city, but all in vain. Of course, we talked great deal about our project and our friends became greatly interested in it, and, of course, too, they gave us a great deal of advice, but we didn't mind that. We were philosophi- cal enough to know that you can't have shad without bones. They were good friends and, by being careful in regard to the advice, 1t didn't interfere with our comfort
 We were beginning to be discouraged, at least Euphemia was. Her discourage ment is like water-cresses, 1t generally comes up ill a very short time after she sows her wishes. But then it withers away rapidly, which is 8 comfort. One evening we were sitting, rather disconso- lately, Ill our room, and was reading out the advertisements of country board in the "Herald," when ill rushed Dr. Heare-one of our old friends. He was SO full of something that he had to say that he dldt even ask us how We were. In fact, he didn' appear to want to know.
 '1 tell you what 1t Is, Arden" said he. ''I have found just the very thing you want''
 "A canal l-boat?" I cried.
 "Yes, said he, "a canal-boat."
 "Furnished?" asked Euphemia, her eyes glistening.
 "WelI, nc" answered the doctor, ''I don't think you could expect that"
 "B4t we can't live on the bare fioor," said Euphemla; our house ns,sr De tur- nished'
 Well. then, I suppose this won't do," said the doctor, ruefully, ..for there isn't so much as a boot-jack in it. It has most things that are necessary for boat, but 1t hasn't anything that you could call house furniture; but, dear me, I should think you could furnish it very cheaply and comfortably out of your book 'Very true," said Euphemia, ''if we could pick out the cheapest things and then get some folks to buy a lot of the l books
 ''We could begin with very Iittle,'' said l, trying hard to keep calm. Certainly" said the doctor, ''you need make no more rooms, at first, than you could furnish
 ''Then there are no rooms," said Flu phemia
 ''No, there is nothing but one vast apartment extending from stem to stern."
 Wont it be gloriousJ" said Euphemia to me. "We can first make kitchen, and then dining-room, and then parlor- just in the order in which our book says | they ought to be furnished"
 ''Gloriousi' I cried, no longer able to contain my enthusiasm; "I should think so. Doctor, where is thls canal-boat? The doctor then went into a detailed statement.
 The boat was stranded on the shore of the Scoldsbury river not far below Ginx's We knew where Ginx's was, because we had spent very happy day there, during our honeymoon
 The boat was good one, but superan- nuated. That, however, did not interfere with It's usefulness as a dwelling. We could get 1.-the doctor had seen the own | er-for small sum per annum, and there was positively no end to it's capabilities. We sat up until twenty minutes past two, talking about that house. We ceas- ed to call it boat at about quarter of eleven.
 The next day l ''took" that boat and paid months rent in advance. Three days afterward we moved into 1t. | We had not much to move, which was a comfort, looking at it from one point of view. A carpenter had put up two parti- 1 tions Tn 1t which made three rooms-a kit chen, dining room and very long bed room, which was to be cut up into par Tor, study, spare-room, etc, as soon as | circumstances should allow, or my salary should be raised. Originally, all the doors and windows were in the roof, so to speak, but our landlord allowed us to make as many windows to the side of the boat as we pleased, provided we gave him ] the wood We cut out. It saved him trouble. he said. but did not understand him at the time. Accordingly, the carpenter made several windows for us, and put in sashes, which opened on hinges like the hasp Of trunk. Our furniture did not amount to much, at first. The very thought of living in this independent, TO- mantle way was so delightful, Euphemia l said, that furniture seemed mere secon- diary matte. We were obliged indeed to give up the idea of following the plan detailed in our book, because we hadn't the sum mon which he furnishing of small house was th.rein based. "Ani if We haven't the money, '' remarked Eupiemia. cit would be of no earthly use to Iok at the book. It would only make us doubt our own calculations. You mght as we'll try to make bricks without 1 nortAr, as the children of Israel did"
 "I could do that myself, my dear" said L, "but we won't discuss that subject l now. We will buy just what we absolute ly need, and then work up from that"