r freight steamers. They were near one of the quiet
canals that formed an inlet from the great Chesapeake Bay. Lining the
banks of the canal were numbers of coal barges and canal boats.

On the deck of a canal boat a girl came out with a bundle of clothes in
her arms. She was singing in a high, sweet voice as she hung them on a
line strung across the deck of the boat.

The girls watched her silently as she flitted back and forth, and she
sang on, unconscious of her audience. She was singing a boat song
which the men chant as they row home at the close of day. The pathos
in the woman's voice was so exquisite, its notes so true, that Madge's
blue eyes filled with tears. None of the four friends stirred until
the song was over, and the girl in her faded calico dress and bare feet
had disappeared into the cabin of the boat.

"We call those boats shanty boats down in Virginia," Eleanor said; "I
suppose because the little cabin on the deck of the canal boat looks so
like a shanty."

"People live on those shanty boats," announced Madge.

"Yes, we have noticed it, my dear girl," Phil responded dryly. But
there was a question in her eyes as she looked at Madge.

"Shanty boats do not look exactly like house-boats," went on Madge
speculatively.

"I should say not," returned Phil. "There is considerable difference."

"But they might be made to look more like them. Don't you believe so?"

Phil nodded.

"They are awfully dirty," was dainty Lillian's sole comment.

"Soap and water, child, is a sure cure for dirt," replied Madge, still
in a brown study. Then she sprang to tier feet and almost ran out of
the little park, nearly to the edge of the canal. Her friends followed
her. There was no doubt that Madge had an idea.

"Girls!" exclaimed Madge fervently, pointing toward one of the shanty
boats, "first look there; then shut your eyes. With your eyes open you
see only an ugly canal boat; with them closed, can't you see our
houseboat?"

"Not very well," replied Lillian without enthusiasm.

"Well, I can," asserted Madge with emphasis.

Then her quick eyes wandered toward a man who was coming slowly up the
path along the canal.

"Please," she asked breathlessly, stepping directly in front of him,
"do you know whether any of the people along here would be willing to
rent me a canal boat?"

The man stared in amazement at this strange request. "Can't say as I
knows of any one," he answered, "but I kin find