The Washington times., 1922-08-14
MA IS SKIPPER,
DAD JUST mate,
ON HOUSE BOAT
The Kids Make Up the Crew
on Unique Family
Barge.
By JULIA MCCARTHY.

By JULIA MCCARTHY.
NEW YORK, Aug. l4.-"The
wife's" the skipper and her
-man's" lust the mattel
That's how il is with our fam
ilies who spend May to November
cruising around New York's salt
waterways. s..-t
The kids help out the crew!
And all's well. t
Life on a barge may not throb
with high-powered luxury that
sets an .ocean-going yacht a-trem-
bic. Angry inlty seas that shiyer
the gallant timbers Of q four
masted schooner never wet the
whistle Of q river boat. Drifting
downstream on q flat-footed craft
has much the same relation TO
maritime adventure that floating
on water-wings bears to the Aus
tralian crawl. 80.
But is It duh on barge! Ask
Anna Christie. g" g..
Too Happy to Mutiny.
roE CouNctihShCce odhos you
might inquire of Capt. Henry
Plude. master of the good ship A.
n. Andrews. Or let US ask him
Cor you. .-... y.,.i.- d.:
But Tn only the mate" pro-
tests the cap'n biushing even to :he
seagoing cracks Of his neck.
Speak to Cora. my wife, she's
Slr Ia
The dolly skipper 10 held captive
by q bosun and four sailors who
give her the title Of mother"
They are entitled: Nina, ten;
Grethel, nine; Gerald. eight; the
''bosun" .Wsetta. four. and Veron-
ica. two. = %. ..-. ....-. %.
And not landlubber among
them can swim q stroke.
That's why they have to- tether
Veronica to gaze about as best
she can at the end Of q long rope.
Once she fell overheard and tried
To bury herself at sea. Another
rescue would be too upsetting, says
the skipper" Ma Plude. Hence
the hemp.
own. The children while aboard
are kind, unselfish. and never
quarrel. says Mrs. Plude.
But during our five months
shore leave there's awful mutiny
all the time" ..,.
Many Families Adrift.
The Pludes Of the A. NJ. Andrews
are one Of several hundred families
who cruise along with their cargo
bearing boats down from upstate
on New York's great network Of
canals to Manhattan. More than
$50 came this year. &c..
In the East river. about two
blocks from the Battery. is Coen-
ties slip. Near by 10 the State
folk anchor and unload during the
active months Of the summer.
''On return trips when we are
without cargo the children >play y
house in the hold. And they find
ways to amuse themselves, for
each one has a hobby" the Skip
per" explains.
Nina, the Oldest, sews, we learn.
But II is Grethel. hext in line. who
has the most exciting career Of all.
She wants to be q doll doctor, and
even now frequently diagnoses OBJ.
scure ailments and prescribes. At
times she finds she must operate,
and that 10 q great day at sea for
Grethel, the cap'n and crew, not
forgetting. OF course, the patient.
Operations on shipboard must be
peculiarly fascinating. We always
wondered what the surgeon did
when the floor arose to strike him
in. the face or slipped down away
from him 80 fast he couldn't keep
his feet on II. II must be q great
gamble. No doubt many a practi-
toner has begun on the high seas
to, drill for an appendix and has
rolled over on its back. that he was
mining for tonsils.
Cabin . Busy Place.
Gerald's profession II to ignore
the rest Of them-being ''bosun." 4"
This job In the navy must CORE.
spond in the army to a second lieu.
tenancy. Gerald, eight, says he
could be better at II II the others
would give him q chance.
wsetta, four. whose name her
mother expalins is after the French.
Canadian, and Veronica, the baby.
claim the distinction OF peing born
abroad.
Two or three times q week the
''stipper" hauls out q big washtub,
dumps buckets Of water into II, and
everybody takes turns at a bath.
There are no separate rooms for this;
all social amenities take place In
the aftercabin, which IL music salon,
dining salon, kitchen, bedroom and
-storeroom. All hands get up at 6,
for no reason whatever.
Friendly feeling exists between
owners OF different boats, and almost
every captain owns his boat. The
canal barEes touch at the end as they
are towed along together and the
children run across from one decl
70 another for visits. At night, and
at the time of separating the boats
when entering canals, there IL roll
call to relieve ones own offspring.
Atop the cabin 10 hammock with
awning to shade the occupant. On
the long deck are flower boxes
Radio outfits, the skipper tells us
now Instruct the river sailors how
to raise hogs with profit and how
TO plant corn, thus providing sooth
Ing bedtime stories. .....
Come Long Distances.
Such diversions are pleasant on
such long trips, for instance. as the
twuo xranGa' v0uo oa fa D,tffalo p1ot /.