If a man must be obsessed by something， I suppose a boat isas good as anything， perhaps a bit better than most. A smallsailing craft is not only beautiful， it is seductive and full ofstrange promise and the hint of trouble. If it happens to be anauxiliary cruising boat， it is without question the most compactand ingenious arrangement for living ever devised by the restlessmind of man－a home that is stable without being stationary，shaped less like a box than like a fish or a bird or a girl， and inwhich the homeowner can remove his daily affairs as far fromshore as he has the nerve to take them， close-hauled or runningfree－parlor， bedroom， and bath， suspended and alive.