after being admitted into the lock it will be lifted up to the higher
level when the upper gates are thrown open.

If any of my young readers find it difficult to understand my
explanation, I advise them to read Jacob Abbot's excellent book, "Rollo
on the Erie Canal," where the whole matter is lucidly explained.

Railroads were not at that time as common as now, and the canal was of
much more importance and value as a means of conveying freight.
Sometimes passengers traveled that way, when they were in not much of a
hurry, but there were no express canal-boats, and a man who chose to
travel in that way must have abundant leisure on his hands. There is
some difference between traveling from two to two and a half miles an
hour, and between thirty and forty, as most of our railroad express
trains do.

James did not have to wait long after his engagement before he was put
on duty. With boyish pride he mounted one of the mules and led the
other. A line connected the mules with the boat, which was drawn slowly
and steadily through the water. James felt the responsibility of his
situation. It was like going to sea on a small scale, though the sea was
but a canal. At all events, he felt that he had more important work to
do than if he were employed as a boy on one of the lake schooners.

James was at this time fifteen; a strong, sturdy boy, with a mass of
auburn hair, partly covered by a loose-fitting hat. He had a bright,
intelligent face, and an earnest look that attracted general attention.
Yet, to one who saw the boy guiding the patient mule along the
tow-path, it would have seemed a most improbable prediction, that one
day the same hand would guide the ship of State, a vessel of much more