ahead of her fellows, I sat on the rear porch
gossiping with the farm-wife--a Pennsylvania-Dutch dame of ample
proportions, attired in light-blue calico, and with huge spectacles
over her broad, flat nose. She and her "man" own a hundred and fifty
acres on the bottom, with three cows and other stock in proportion,
and sell butter to those neighbors who have no cows, and to houseboat
people. As for these latter, though they were her customers, she
had none too good an opinion of them; they pretended to fish, but in
reality only picked up a living from the farmers; nevertheless, she
did know of some "weakly, delicate people" who had taken to boat life
for economy's sake, and because an invalid could at least fish, and
his family help him at it.

* * * * *

Near Huntington, W. Va., Friday, May 18th.--Backed by ravine-grooved
hills, and edged at the waterside with great picturesque boulders,
planed and polished by the ever-rushing river, the little bottom farms
along our path to-day are pretty bits. But the houses are the
reverse of this, having much the aspect of slave-cabins of the olden
time--small, one-story, log and frame shanties, roof and gables
shingled with "shakes," and little vegetable gardens inclosed by
palings. The majority of these small farmers--whose tracts seldom
exceed a hundred acres--rent their land, rather than own it. The plan
seems to be half-and-half as to crops, with a rental fee for house and
pasturage. One man, having a hundred-and-twenty acres, told me he
paid three dollars a month for his house, and for pasturage a dollar a
month per head.

We were in several of the small towns to-day. At Millersport, O.
(293 miles), while W---- and the Doctor were up town, the Boy and I
remained at the wharf-boat to talk with the owner. The wharf-boat is
a conspicuous object at every landing of importance, being a covered
barge used as a storehouse for coming and going steamboat freight.
It is a private enterprise, for public convenience, with certain
monopolistic privileges at the incorporated towns. This Millersport
boat cost twelve hundred dollars; the proprietor charges twenty per
cent of each freight-bill, for handling and storing goods, a fee of
twenty-five cents for each steamer that lands, and certain special
fees for live stock. Athalia, Haskellville and Guyandotte were other
representative towns. Stave-making appears to be the chief industry,
and, as timber is getting scarce