A woman is always there; her husband only rarely.

The only visible captain is the fussy, shrewish little dog which, suspicious of the whole world, patrols the boat from stem to stern, and warns you that it is against the law even to look at his property.

I hope his bite is not equal to his bark.
Every barge has its name.

What the popular style was seven years ago, when I was here last, I cannot remember; but to-day it is "Wilhelmina".

English suburban villas have not a greater variety of fantastic names than the canal craft of Holland; nor, with all our monopoly of the word "home," does the English suburban villa suggest more compact cosiness than one catches gleams of through their cabin windows or down their companions.
Spring cleaning goes on here, as in the Dutch houses, all the year round, and the domiciliary part of the vessels is spotless.