s common as now, and the canal was of
much more importance and value as a means of conveying freight.
Sometimes passengers traveled that way, when they were in not much of a
hurry, but there were no express canal-boats, and a man who chose to
travel in that way must have abundant leisure on his hands. There is
some difference between traveling from two to two and a half miles an
hour, and between thirty and forty, as most of our railroad express
trains do.

James did not have to wait long after his engagement before he was put
on duty. With boyish pride he mounted one of the mules and led the
other. A line connected the mules with the boat, which was drawn slowly
and steadily through the water. James felt the responsibility of his
situation. It was like going to sea on a small scale, though the sea was
but a canal. At all events, he felt that he had more important work to
do than if he were employed as a boy on one of the lake schooners.

James was at this time fifteen; a strong, sturdy boy, with a mass of
auburn hair, partly covered by a loose-fitting hat. He had a bright,
intelligent face, and an earnest look that attracted general attention.
Yet, to one who saw the boy guiding the patient mule along the
tow-path, it would have seemed a most improbable prediction, that one
day the same hand would guide the ship of State, a vessel of much more
consequence than the humble canal-boat.

There was one comfort, at any rate. Though in his rustic garb he was not
well enough dressed to act as clerk in a Cleveland store, no one
complained that he was not well enough attired for a canal-boy.

It will occur to my young reader that, though the work was rather
monotonous, there was not much difficulty or danger connected with it.
But even the guidance of a canal-boat has its perplexities, and James
was not long in his new position before he realized it.

It often happened that a canal-boat going up encountered another going
down, and _vice versa_. Then care has to be exercised by the respective
drivers lest their lines get entangled.

All had been going on smoothly till James saw another boat coming. It
might have been his inexperience, or it might have been the carelessness
of the other driver, but at any rate the lines got entangled. Meanwhile
the boat, under the impetus that had been given it, kept on its way
until it was even with the horses, and seemed likely to tow them along.

"Whip up your team, Jim, or your line wil