Jeannie would not have been smiling if she were barging in another era. Actually, she would have had nothing to do with barging.
Barges have been used on French canals for a long time – long before there were engines. In those days, the husband steered from the wheelhouse. He was protected from the rain and the cold – and really didn’t have to do much other than turn the wheel. The wife, however, had a very arduous life. She had to tow the barge – in the heat, in the cold, in the rain. A fully loaded barge weighed much more than Aleau’s 44-tonnes.
If the couple had children (and they certainly would have tried to have a few), as soon as they were strong enough, they would have joined their mother on the towpath.
