ch one
"paddling his, or her, own canoe." The river canoe is not quite the same
as those which we derived from the Red Indians, though that kind of
craft is also seen about. The popular canoe is a very small
flat-bottomed concern with pointed stem and stern, is generally gaily
painted and named appropriately "Water Bubble," "Fairy," or something
equally ingenious. It looks easy when you see a lass gracefully paddling
herself along with a double oar; it is anything but as easy as it looks.
This class of canoe is a very unstable craft. I have tried to navigate
one, and spent the whole time in the water--simply could not keep inside
the tub. This I much regretted, for it must be thoroughly enjoyable to
laze about under the trees that overhang the river from one or other of
the islands and listen to the band. You do not get half the enjoyment
you should out of music when swimming around all the time, and it would
not be appreciated if you appeared like Venus or Undine, from out of the
foam as it were, among the customers of the "Restauration" on one or
other of the islands--besides, you would not have your pocket-book,
stuffed with notes, on your person just then.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X

Charles and the Housing Problem. The "carryings on" in the New Town, and
more about "St. Mary of the Snow"; also about Rudolph II and some
troublesome guests of his inviting, called the "Passauer." How Count
Thurn chased the "Passauer" out of town. A word about the Salvation
Army. How the centre of fashion shifted to the Old Town in the days of
Wenceslaus IV, and we move with it down the Karlova Ulice, look at
various matters of interest and listen to a story about a confectioner
and his nocturnal visitors. The 21st of June in Prague and the Hus
celebrations on the 6th of July. The Old Town Hall and the Church of Our
Lady of Tyn. The "Powder Tower," night life in Prague, and a word on
missionaries of long ago and of to-day. A good deal about concerts,
theatres, opera and other recreations. A mention of Jungmann and Kalina,
and the Slav Congress of 1848. A memory of barricades and street
fighting. Something about Sokols.

Charles, we have seen, had added a fourth quarter, the New Town, to his
city of Prague, moved thereto by the acuteness of the "Housing Problem,"
which, by the way, is equally urgent to-day. Prague is again the capital
of a free and flourishing State, and is again hard put to it to find
room for all those wh