Evening star., 1934-08-19
HOuSEBOATS
Co~tiRwed From Fifth Page.

the nearby shore, the District coroner eame 70
view 1t and handle the case.
isn't that proof enough that We are in the
DISTRICT" she asks with emphasis.
And then out of another houseboat, in shorts.
comes another woman. It Is the boat Of Mr.
and Mrs Sam Petticrew. She. too. is firm
in the belief that the craft are in Distrtcs
waters.
At first they thought the newspaper man
getting q frst-hand view of how the folk ON
houseboats live, was representative from
Arlington County, Va. come to stir up trouble
for them And they were reticent.
Mrs. Petticrew said they have been house
boating for four or five years now. They live
in the yellow houseboat moored there and they
have another for sale beached nearby. she
explains that motor boats, racing up and down
Boundary Channel, give them some trouble.
Some of these just see how close they can come.
without striking the craft, their waves causing
1t to bob about.
They enjoy the river and it is cool at night in
the sound of the swishing waters. The folk
in "Houseboat Row" have cars sand most OF
them work in Washington.
TO SAVE rent, Mr. and Mrs Sydney kaufman
purchased a houseboat, which is now
moored near Gravelly Point, just beyond
the Capitol overlook of the Mount Vernon
Memorial Highway There they live in pastoral
peace with their two children, Lawrence and
Patricia.
Mrs. Kaufman smilingly explains that they
like it much better than an apartment. And,
truth to tell, this red-roofed craft, moored
among the pond lilies and the rushes, in shell
tered cove, is a picture of bucolic charm. Be-
yond is the river, with the distant Washington
Monument and the Capitol in the ofhng Here
is calm, reflection. ease and "the peace that
surpasseth understanding"
In a clearing just beyond the fringe Of
shore, the children from the houseboat may
play without fear of sirens of fire engines the
lunging automobiles, the ever-present danger
that turks on all sides. Arched over by shell
tering trees these two have a playground OF
their own, with mother, from the houseboat, TO
keep wary eye on them.
The Kaufmans were up In Georgetown last
Winter. 1t was most severe, as far as weather
records go. but they say that. tight a drum.
their houseboat was very comfortable and warm,
and they even had to open window. They
burn coal and gather up driftwood Water they
get from spring in the nearby wood.
The red roof of the houseboat, which was
built in Washington and was practically new
when they bought it. covers two rooms, sleep
ing porch and bath room. Mrs. Kaufman
cooks outside in the Summer on little porch,
from which one steps from the home-built pier
to the shore above the nodding rushes and the
cuplike water lilies. Four or five cables hold
the boat firmly to its moorings. At times, they
while away the tedium by fishing. They are
not troubled by storms, for the IS sheltered.
Sometimes they float out into deep water and
get a cooling breeze, on a particularly sultry
night.
Upstream of the United States Engineer
Wharf and the Navy Yard, there are the house
boats of another day, high on dry land and
locked tight There are rows and rows OF
motor craft moored here, just shoreward Of
the great gas tanks. At one end of this nau-
tical line is the new houseboat of Jess Wood, a
plasterer by trade, who, by his own confession,
could swim before could walk"
The craft built by the hands Of this red
faced man, who is carpenter, as well plas-
terer, judging by his handiwork is one of the
very best of which Washington can boast. 1t
is not finished yet; for all the bills are not in.
But it's trim craft, as she floats in the water,
moored to her stakes by an ingenious iron device.
ANSWERS.