s on American rivers, and they do not have
comfortable rooms where you can sleep as well as in a bed on shore. Some
of them are so small that they can only hold three or four persons, and
there is no space for walking around; but these three or four must live
there from day to day and from week to week, and if they ever go on
shore at all, it is only for a few minutes at a time. A whole family
will often be found living on a boat which we would hardly think large
enough to cross in from one side of the Hudson River to the other. They
cook and eat and sleep on the boat, and they manage to earn a little
money by carrying passengers over the river, or doing other work. The
kitchen where they do their cooking is only a little heap of coals that
a man might put in his hat, and it rests on a box of sand about a foot
square. When there are any passengers on board, they sit under an awning
in the front part of the boat, and the children are kept in a sort of
well, like a dry-goods box, near the stern, but at other times they can
run or creep about the deck. The smaller children are secured by means
of cords tied around their waists, so as to save them in case they fall
overboard. Sometimes the cord that holds a baby is fastened to the side
of the boat, and sometimes it is tied to a stick of wood that serves as
a float to keep him from sinking. The latter mode is generally
preferred, as the baby has more freedom, and can drag himself along the
deck where he likes. It is very common to see infants crawling around in
this way, and it is surprising how soon they learn to keep out of
danger. A Chinese child has only to fall overboard once or twice to make
up his mind to keep away from the side of the boat as much as possible.

One day a baby was creeping around the deck of one of these Canton
boats, and wondering how he should amuse himself. He looked over the
side, and as the sun was shining, and reflecting his face in the water,
he thought he discovered a new baby that would be a nice playmate for
him. His mother was in the forward part of the boat, and busy at the
oars, and his father was working on a ship that lay in the harbor. So
this baby, whose name was Chin-Fan, was quite alone, and could do as he
pleased. He felt lonesome, and when he saw the strange child in the
water, he smiled at him, and wanted to make his acquaintance. The
strange baby smiled in reply; and then Chin-Fan held out his chubby
little hand to lift him out o