Produced by Lynn Hill. Dedicated to Luana Rodriquez. HTML
version by Al Haines.
This book belongs to Lawrence and other children
THE DUTCH TWINS
By
Lucy Fitch Perkins
ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
Geographical Series
THE DUTCH TWINS PRIMER. Grade I.
THE DUTCH TWINS. Grade III.
THE ESKIMO TWINS. Grade II.
THE JAPANESE TWINS. Grade IV.
THE SWISS TWINS. Grade IV.
THE IRISH TWINS. Grade V.
THE ITALIAN TWINS. Grades V and VI.
THE SCOTCH TWINS. Grades V and VI.
THE MEXICAN TWINS. Grade VI.
THE BELGIAN TWINS. Grade VI.
THE FRENCH TWINS. Grade VII.
Historical Series
THE CAVE TWINS. Grade IV.
THE SPARTAN TWINS. Grades V-VI.
THE PURITAN TWINS. Grades VI-VII.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION--KIT AND KAT
I. THE DAY THEY WENT FISHING
II. MARKET DAY WITH FATHER
III. MOTHER'S DAY
IV. ONE SUNDAY
V. THE DAY THEY DROVE THE MILK CART
VI. THE DAY THEY GOT THEIR SKATES
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
THE DUTCH TWINS
KIT AND KAT
This is a picture of Kit and Kat. They are Twins, and they live in
Holland. Kit is the boy, and Kat is the girl.
Of course their real names are not Kit and Kat at all. Their real names
are Christopher and Katrina. But you can see for yourself that such
long names as that would never in the world fit such a short pair of
Twins. So the Twins' Mother, Vrouw Vedder, said,
"They cannot be called Christopher and Katrina until they are four and
a half feet high."
Now it takes a long time to grow four and a half feet of Boy and Girl.
You know, chickens and puppies and colts and kittens always grow up
much faster than twins. Kit and Kat ate a great many breakfasts and
dinners and suppers, and played a great many plays, and had a great
many happy days while they were growing up to their names. I will tell
you about some of them.
I.
THE DAY THEY WENT FISHING
One summer morning, very early, Vrouw Vedder opened the door of her
little Dutch kitchen and stepped out.
She looked across the road which ran by the house, across the canal on
the other side, across the level green fields that lay beyond, clear to
the blue rim of the world, where the sky touches the earth. The sky was
very blue; and the great, round, shining face of the sun was just
peering over the tops of the trees, as she looked out.
Vrouw Vedder listened. The roosters in the barnyard were crowing, the
ducks in the canal were quacking, and all the little birds in the
fields were singing for joy. Vrouw Vedder hummed a slow little tune of
her own, as she went back into her kitchen.
Kit and Kat were still asleep in their little cupboard bed. She gave
them each a kiss. The Twins opened their eyes and sat up.
"O Kit and Kat," said Vrouw Vedder, "the sun is up, the birds are all
awake and singing, and Grandfather is going fishing to-day. If you will
hurry, you may go with him! He is coming at six o'clock; so pop out of
bed and get dressed. I will put some lunch for you in the yellow
basket, and you may dig worms for bait in the garden. Only be sure not
to step on the young cabbages that Father planted."
Kit and Kat bounced out of bed in a minute. Their mother helped them
put on their clothes and new wooden shoes. Then she gave them each a
bowl of bread and milk for their breakfast. They ate it sitting on the
kitchen doorstep.
This is a picture of Kit and Kat digging worms. You see they did just
as their mother said, and did not step on the young cabbages. They sat
on them, instead. But that was an accident.
Kit dug the worms, and Kat put them into a basket, with some earth in
it to make them feel at home.
When Grandfather came, he brought a large fishing-rod for himself and
two little ones for the Twins. There was a little hook on the end of
each line.
Vrouw Vedder kissed Kit and Kat good-bye.
"Mind Grandfather, and don't fall into the water," she said.
Grandfather and the Twins started off together down the long road
beside the canal.
The house where the Twins lived was right beside the canal. Their
father was a gardener, and his beautiful rows of cabbages and beets and
onions stretched in long lines across the level fields by the roadside.
Grandfather lived in a large town, a little way beyond the farm where
the Twins lived. He did not often have a holiday, because he carried
milk to the doors of the people in the town, every morning early.
Sometime I will tell you how he did it; but I must not tell you now,
because if I do, I can't tell you about their going fishing.
This morning, Grandfather carried his rod and the lunch-basket. Kit and
Kat carried the basket of worms between them, and their rods over their
shoulders, and they were all three very happy.
They walked along ever so far, beside the canal. Then they turned to
the left and walked along a path that ran from the canal across the
green fields to what looked like a hill.
But it wasn't a hill at all, really, because there aren't any hills in
Holland. It was a long, long wall of earth, very high--oh, as high as a
house, or even higher! And it had sloping sides.
There is such a wall of earth all around the country of Holland, where
the Twins live. There has to be a wall, because the sea is higher than
the land. If there were no walls to shut out the sea, the whole country
would be covered with water; and if that were so, then there wouldn't
be any Holland, or any Holland Twins, or any story. So you see it was
very lucky for the Twins that the wall was there. They called it a dyke.
Grandfather and Kit and Kat climbed the dyke. When they reached the
top, they sat down a few minutes to rest and look at the great blue
sea. Grandfather sat in the middle, with Kit on one side, and Kat on
the other; and the basket of worms and the basket of lunch were there,
too.
They saw a great ship sail slowly by, making a cloud of smoke.
"Where do the ships go, Grandfather?" asked Kit.
"To America, and England, and China, and all over the world," said
Grandfather.
"Why?" asked Kat. Kat almost always said "Why?" and when she didn't,
Kit did.
"To take flax and linen from the mills of Holland to make dresses for
little girls in other countries," said Grandfather.
"Is that all?" asked Kit.
"They take cheese and herring, bulbs and butter, and lots of other
things besides, and bring back to us wheat and meat and all sorts of
good things from the lands across the sea."
"I think I'll be a sea captain when I'm big," said Kit.
"So will I," said Kat.
"Girls can't," said Kit.
But Grandfather shook his head and said:
"You can't tell what a girl may be by the time she's four feet and a
half high and is called Katrina. There's no telling what girls will do
anyway. But, children, if we stay here we shall not catch any fish."
So they went down the other side of the dyke and cut onto a little pier
that ran from the sandy beach into the water.
Grandfather showed them how to bait their hooks. Kit baited Kat's for
her, because Kat said it made her all wriggly inside to do it. She did
not like it. Neither did the worm!
They all sat down on the end of the pier, Grandfather sat on the very
end and let his wooden shoes hang down over the water; but he made Kit
and Kat sit with their feet stuck straight out in front of them, so
they just reached to the edge, "So you can't fall in," said Grandfather.
They dropped their hooks into the water and sat very still, waiting for
a bite. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, and it grew
hotter and hotter on the pier. The flies tickled Kat's nose and made
her sneeze.
"Keep still, can't you?" said Kit crossly. "You'll scare the fish.
Girls don't know how to fish, anyway."
Pretty soon Kat felt a queer little jerk on her line. She was perfectly
sure she did.
Kat squealed and jerked her rod. She jerked it so hard that one foot
flew right up in the air, and one of her new wooden shoes
went--splash--right into the water!
But that wasn't the worst of it! Before you could say Jack Robinson,
Kat's hook flew around and caught in Kit's clothes and pricked him.
Kit jumped and said "Ow!" And then--no one could ever tell how it
happened--there was Kit in the water, too, splashing like a young
whale, with Kat's hook still holding fast to his clothes in the back!
Grandfather jumped then, too, you may be sure. He caught hold of Kat's
rod and pulled hard and called out, "Steady there, steady!"
And in one minute there was Kit in the shallow water beside the pier,
puffing and blowing like a grampus!
Grandfather reached down and pulled him up.
When Kit was safely on the pier, Kat threw her arms around his neck,
though the water was running down in streams from his hair and eyes and
ears.
"O Kit," she said, "I truly thought it was a fish on my line when I
jumped!"
"Just like a g-g-girl," said Kit. "They don't know how to f-f-fish."
You see his teeth were chattering, because the water was cold.
"Well, anyway," said Kat, "I caught more than you did. I caught you!"
Then Kat thought of something else. She shook her finger at Kit.
"O Kit," she said, "Mother told you not to fall into the water!"
"'T-t-twas all your fault," roared Kit. "Y-y-you began it! Anyway,
where is your new wooden shoe?"
"Where are both of yours?" screamed Kat.
Sure enough, where were they? No one had thought about shoes, because
they were thinking so hard about Kit.
They ran to the end of the pier and looked. There was Kat's shoe
sailing away toward America like a little boat! Kit's were still
bobbing about in the water near the pier.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" shrieked Kat; but the tide was going out and carrying her
shoe farther away every minute. They could not get it; but Grandfather
reached down with his rod and fished out both of Kit's shoes. Then Kat
took off her other one and her stockings, and they all three went back
to the beach.
Grandfather and Kat covered Kit up with sand to keep him warm while his
clothes were drying. Then Grandfather stuck the Twins' fish-poles up in
the sand and tied the lines together for a clothes-line, and hung Kit's
clothes up on it, and Kat put their three wooden shoes in a row beside
Kit.
Then they ate their luncheon of bread and butter, cheese, and milk,
with some radishes from Father's garden. It tasted very good, even if
it was sandy. After lunch Grandfather said, "It will never do to go
home without any fish at all."
So by and by he went back to the pier and caught one while the Twins
played in the sand. He put it in the lunch-basket to carry home.
Kat brought shells and pebbles to Kit, because he had to stay covered
up in the sand, and Kit built a play dyke all around himself with them,
and Kat dug a canal outside the dyke. Then she made sand-pies in
clam-shells and set them in a row in the sun to bake.
They played until the shadow of the dyke grew very long across the
sandy beach, and then Grandfather said it was time to go home.
He helped Kit dress, but Kit's clothes were still a little wet in the
thick parts. And Kat had to go barefooted and carry her one wooden shoe.
They climbed the dyke and crossed the fields, and walked along the road
by the canal. The road shone, like a strip of yellow ribbon across the
green field. They walked quite slowly, for they were tired and sleepy.
By and by Kit said, "I see our house"; and Kat said, "I see Mother at
the gate."
Grandfather gave the fish he caught to Kit and Kat, and Vrouw Vedder
cooked it for their supper; and though it was not a very big fish, they
all had some.
Grandfather must have told Vrouw Vedder something about what had
happened; for that night, when she put Kit to bed, she felt of his
clothes carefully--but she didn't say a word about their being damp.
And she said to Kat: "To-morrow we will see the shoemaker and have him
make you another shoe."
Then Kit and Kat hugged her and said good-night, and popped off to
sleep before you could wink your eyes.
II
MARKET DAY WITH FATHER
One afternoon Kit and Kat were playing around the kitchen doorstep,
while their Mother sat on a bench by the door, peeling some onions for
supper. It was not yet supper-time, but Vrouw Vedder was always ahead
of the clock with the work.
Kit and Kat had a pan of water and were teaching their ducklings to
swim. They each had one little fat duckling of their very own. The
ducklings squawked when Kit lifted them over the edge of the pan into
the water.
"Don't do that, Kit," said Kat. "The ducklings don't like it. You
didn't like it when you fell into the water, did you?"
"But I'm not a duck," said Kit.
"Well, anyway, they're tired and want to go to their mother," said Kat.
"Let's do something else! I'll tell you what! Let's go out to the
garden and help Father get the boat loaded for market."
"All right," said Kit. "May we, Mother?"
"Yes," said Vrouw Vedder; "and you may ask Father if he will take you
to market with him to-morrow if it's fair. Tell him I said you could
ask."
"Oh, goody, goody!" said Kit and Kat, both at once; and they ran as
fast as their wooden shoes would take them out into the garden.
They found their father cutting cabbages and gathering them into piles.
He was stopping to light his pipe, when they reached him.
"O Father!" said Kit and Kat both together. "May we go on the boat to
market with you to-morrow morning? Mother said we might ask!"
Father Vedder blew two puffs from his pipe without answering.
"We'll help you load the boat," said Kit.
"Yes," said Kat, "I can carry a cabbage."
"I can carry two," said Kit. "We'll both be good," said Kat.
"Very well," said Father, at last. "We'll see how you work! And
to-morrow morning, if it's fair, I'll see! But you must go to bed early
to-night, because you'll have to get up very early in the morning, if
you go with me! Now you each take a cabbage and run along."
Father Vedder went back to his work.
Kit and Kat ran to the cabbage-pile. Kat took one, and Kit took
two--just to show that he could.
"When Father says 'I'll see,' he always means 'yes,'" Kat said to Kit.
Perhaps it seems queer to you that they should go to market in a boat,
but it didn't seem queer at all to the Twins.
Your see, in Holland there are a great many canals. They cross the
fields like roadways of water, and that is what they really are. Little
canals open into big ones, and big ones go clear to the sea.
It is very easy for farmers to load their vegetables for market right
on a boat. They can pull the boat out into the big canal, and then away
they go to sell their produce in the town.
The canals flow through the towns, too, and make water streets, where
boats go up and down as carriages go here.
The Twins and their father worked like beavers, washing the vegetables
and packing them in baskets, until their good old boat was filled with
cabbages and onions and beets and carrots and all sorts of good things
to eat.
By that time it was nearly dark, and they were all three very hungry;
so they went home.
They found that Mother Vedder had made buttermilk porridge for supper.
The Twins loved buttermilk porridge. They each ate three bowls of it,
and then their mother put them to bed.
This is a picture of the bed! It opened like a cupboard right into the
kitchen, and it was like going to bed on a shelf in the pantry.
The very next thing the Twins knew, it was morning, and there was Vrouw
Vedder calling to them.
"It's market day, and the sun is almost up. Come Kit and Kat, if you
want to go with Father," she said.
The Twins bounced out like two rubber balls. They ate some breakfast
and then ran to the boat.
Father was there before them. He helped them into the boat and put them
both on one seat, and told them to sit still. Then he got in and took
the pole and pushed off.
Vrouw Vedder stood on the canal bank to see them pass.
"Be good children; mind Father, and don't get lost," she called after
them.
Kit and Kat were very busy all the way to town, looking at the things
to be seen on each side of the canal.
It was so early in the morning that the grass was all shiny with dew.
Black and white cows were eating the rich green grass, and a few
laborers were already in the fields.
They passed little groups of farm buildings, their red-tiled roofs
shining in the morning sun; and the windmills threw long, long shadows
across the fields.
The blue blossoms of the flax nodded to them from the canal bank; and
once, they saw a stork fly over a mossy green roof, to her nest on the
chimney, with a frog in her mouth.
They went under bridges and by little canals that opened into the main
canal. They passed so close to some of the houses that Kit and Kat
could see the white curtains blowing in the windows, and the pots of
red geraniums standing on the sill. In one house the family waved their
hands to Kit and Kat from the breakfast table, and a little farther on
they passed a woman who was washing clothes in the canal. Other boats
filled with vegetables and flowers of all colors passed them. And they
were going to market too. Only no other boat had twins in it.
"Good day, neighbor Vedder," one man called out. "Are you taking a pair
of fat pigs to market?"
By and by they came to the town. There were a great many boats in the
canal here, and people calling back and forth to each other from them.
Kit and Kat saw a boat that the Captain's family lived in. It was like
a floating house.
The Twins thought it must be grand to live on a boat like that, just
going about from town to town, seeing new sights every day.
"We should never have to go to school at all," said Kit.
They wished their own boat were big enough to move about in; but Father
told them they must sit very, very still all the time.
There were houses on each side of the canal, in the town, and people
were clattering along over the pavement in their wooden shoes.
The market-place was an open square in the middle of the town. It had
little booths and stalls all about it. The farmers brought their fresh
vegetables and flowers, or whatever they had to sell, into these
stalls, and then sat there waiting for customers.
Kit and Kat helped their father to unload the boat. Then they sat down
on a box, and Father gave them each some bread and cheese to eat; for
they were hungry again. They put the cheese between slices of bread and
took bites, while they looked about.
Soon there were a good many people in the square. Most of them were
women with market baskets on their arms. They went to the different
stalls to see what they would buy for dinner.
A large woman with a big basket on her arm came along to the stall
where Kit and Kat were sitting.
"Bless my heart!" she said. "Are you twins?"
"Yes, Ma'am," said Kit and Kat. And Kat said, "We're five years old."
"O my soul!" said the large woman. "So you are! What are your names?"
"Christopher and Katrina, but they call us Kit and Kat for short." It
was Kat who said this. And Kit said,
"When we are four feet and a half high, we are going to be called
Christopher and Katrina."
"Well, well, well!" said the large woman. "So you are! Now my name is
Vrouw Van der Kloot. Are you helping Father?"
"Yes," said the Twins. "We're going to help him sell things."
"Then you may sell me a cabbage and ten onions," said Vrouw Van der
Kloot.
Father Vedder's eyes twinkled, and he lit his pipe. Kit got a cabbage
for the Vrouw.
"You can get the ten onions," he said to Kat. You see, really Kit
couldn't count ten and be sure of it. So he asked Kat to do it.
Kat wasn't afraid. She took out a little pile of onions in a measure,
and said to Vrouw Van der Kloot,
"Is that ten?"
Then Vrouw Van der Kloot counted them with Kat, very carefully. There
were eleven, and so she gave back one. Then she gave Kat the money for
the onions, and Kit the money for the cabbage.
Father Vedder said, "Now Kit and Kat, by and by, when you get hungry
again, you can go over to Vrouw Van der Kloot's stall and buy something
from her. She keeps the sweetie shop."
"Oh! Oh!" cried Kit and Kat. "We're hungry yet! Can't we go now?"
"No, not now," said Father. "We must do some work first."
The Twins helped Father Vedder a long time. They learned to count ten
and to do several other things. Then their father gave them the money
for the cabbage and the ten onions they had sold to Vrouw Van der
Kloot, and said,
"You may walk around the market and look in all the stalls, and buy the
thing you like best that costs just two cents. Then come back here to
me."
Kit and Kat set forth on their travels, to see the world. They each
held the money tightly shut in one hand, and with the other hand they
held on to each other.
"The world is very large," said Kit and Kat.
They saw all sorts of strange things in the market. There were tables
piled high with flowers. There was a stall full of birds in cages,
singing away with all their might. One cage had five little birds in
it, sitting in a row.
"O Kit," cried Kat, "let's buy the birds!"
They asked the woman if the birds cost two cents, and she said,
"No, my angels; they cost fifty cents."
You see, now that the Twins could count ten, they knew they couldn't
get the birds for two cents when they cost fifty. So they went to the
next place.
There, there were chickens and ducks for sale. But the Twins had plenty
of those at home. There were stalls and stalls of vegetables just like
Father's, and there were booths where meat and fish and wood and peat
were sold. But the Twins couldn't find anything they wanted that cost
exactly two cents.
At last, what should they see but Vrouw Van der Kloot's fat face
smiling at them from a stall just full of cakes and cookies and bread,
and chocolate, and honey cakes, and goodies of all kinds.
The Twins held up their money.
There on the counter was a whole row of St. Nicholas dolls with currant
eyes, and they knew at once that there was nothing else in all the
market they should like so much!
"Do these cost two cents apiece, dear Vrouw Van der Kloot?" asked Kat.
"No," said Vrouw Van der Kloot; "they cost one cent apiece."
The Twins were discouraged.
"I don't believe there's a single thing in this whole market that costs
just two cents," said Kat.
"Keep still!" said Kit. "Let me think."
They sat down on the curb. Kat kept still, and Kit took hold of his
head with both hands and thought hard. He thought so hard that he
scowled all over his forehead!
"I tell you what it is, Kat," he said at last. "If those St. Nicholas
dolls cost one cent apiece, I _think_ we could get two of them for two
cents."
"O Kit," said Kat, "how splendidly you can think! Does it hurt you
much? Let's ask Vrouw Van der Kloot."
They went back to the good Vrouw, who was selling some coffee bread to
a woman with a basket.
"O Vrouw Van der Kloot," said Kat, "Kit says that if those St. Nicholas
dolls cost one cent apiece, he _thinks_ we could get two for two cents.
Do you think so?"
"Of course you can," said Vrouw Van der Kloot; and she winked at the
lady with the bread.
"But you've got two cents, and I've got two," said Kat to Kit. "If you
should get two Nicholas dolls, why, I should have my two cents left;
shouldn't I? Oh! dear, it won't come out right anyway!"
"Let me think some more," said Kit; and when he had thought some more,
he said,
"I'll tell you what let's! You get two with your two cents, and I'll
get two with mine! And I'll give my other one to Mother and you can
give your other one to Father!"
"That's just what we'll do," said Kat.
They went back to Vrouw Van der Kloot.
"We'll take _four_ dolls," said Kat.
"Well, well, well!" said the Vrouw. "So you've figured it all out, have
you?" And she counted out the dolls--"One for Kit, and one for Kat, and
one for Father, and one for Mother, and an extra one for good measure!"
"O Kit, she's given us one more!" said Kat. "Let's eat it right now!
Thank you, dear Vrouw Van der Kloot."
So they ate up the one more then and there, beginning with the feet.
Kit bit one off, and Kat bit the other; and they took turns until the
St. Nicholas doll was all gone.
Then they took the four others, said good-bye to the good Vrouw, and
went back to Father's stall. They found that Father had sold all his
things and was ready to go home.
They carried their empty baskets back to the boat, and soon were on
their way home. The Twins sat on one seat, holding tight to their
dolls, which were growing rather sticky.
The boat was so light that they went home from market much more quickly
than they had come, and it did not seem long before they saw their own
house. There it was, with its mossy roof half hidden among the trees,
and Vrouw Vedder waiting for them at the gate.
Dinner was all ready, and the Twins set the four St. Nicholas dolls in
a row, in the middle of the table.
"There's one for Father, and one for Mother, and one for Kat, and one
for me," said Kit.
"O Mother," said Kat, "Kit can think! He thought just how many dolls he
could buy when they were one for one cent! Isn't it fine that he can do
that?"
"You've learned a great deal at the market," said Vrouw Vedder. But Kit
didn't say a word. He just looked proud and pleased and put his hands
in his pockets.
"By and by, when you are four and a half feet high and are called
Christopher, you can go with Father every time," said Vrouw Vedder.
"I can think a little bit, too," said Kat. "Can't I go?"
"No," said Vrouw Vedder. "Girls shouldn't think much. It isn't good for
them. Leave thinking to the men. You can stay at home and help me."
III
MOTHER'S DAY
"Yesterday was a very long day," said Vrouw Vedder on the morning after
Market Day. "You were gone such a long time."
Kat gave her mother a great hug.
"We'll stay with you all day to-day, Mother," she said. "Won't we, Kit?"
"Yes," said Kit; and he hugged her too.
"And we'll help you just as much as we helped Father yesterday. Won't
we, Kit?"
"More," said Kit.
"I shouldn't wonder!" said Father.
"I shall be glad of help," said Vrouw Vedder, "because Grandma is
coming, and I want everything to be very clean and tidy when she comes.
I'm going first to the pasture to milk the cow. You can go with me and
keep the flies away. That will be a great help."
Vrouw Vedder put a yoke across her shoulders, with hooks hanging from
each end of it. Then she hung a large pail on one of the hooks, and a
brass milk can on the other. She gave Kat a little pail to carry, and
Kit took some switches from the willow tree in the yard, with which to
drive away the flies. Then they all three started down the road to the
pasture.
Pretty soon they came to a little bridge over the canal, which they had
to cross.
"Oh, dear," said Kat, looking down at the water, "I'm scared!" You see,
there was no railing at all to take hold of, and the bridge was quite
narrow.
"Ho! 'Fraidy cat!" said Kit. "I'll go first and show you how."
"And I'll walk behind you," said Vrouw Vedder.
Kat walked very slowly and held on hard to her pail, and so she got
over the bridge safely.
"When I'm four feet and a half high, I'm going to jump over the canal
on a jumping pole," said Kit.
"O how brave you are!" said Kat. "I should be scared. And besides I'm
afraid I should drop my shoes in the water."
"Well, of course," said Kit, "boys can do a great many things that
girls can't do."
When they reached the pasture, there was Mevrouw Holstein waiting for
them. Mevrouw Holstein was the cow's name. Kit and Kat named her.
Vrouw Vedder tucked up her skirts--and that was quite a task, for she
wore a great many of them--and sat down on a little stool. Kit and Kat
stood beside her and waved their willow wands and said "Shoo!" to the
flies; and Vrouw Vedder began to milk.
Mevrouw Holstein had eaten so much of the green meadow grass that Vrouw
Vedder filled both the big pail and the brass can, and the little pail
too, with rich milk.
"I shall have milk enough to make butter and cheese," said Vrouw
Vedder. "There are no cows like our Dutch cows in all the world, I
believe."
"O Mother, are you going to churn to-day?" asked Kat.
"Yes," said the Vrouw, "I have cream enough at home to make a good roll
of butter, and you may help me if you will be very careful and work
steadily."
"I will be very steady," said Kat. "I'm big enough now to learn."
"All Dutch girls must know how to make good butter and cheese," said
Vrouw Vedder.
"And boys can drink the buttermilk," said Kit.
"I'll drink some too," said Kat.
"There'll be plenty for both," said their mother.
When she had finished milking, Vrouw Vedder shook out her skirts, put
the yoke across her shoulders again and lifted the large pail of milk.
She hung it on one of the hook and the brass milk can on the other. Kat
took the small pail, and they started back home. The milk was quite
heavy, so they walked slowly.
They had crossed the bridge and were just turning down the road, when
what should they see but their old goose and gander walking along the
road, followed by six little goslings!
"O Mother, Mother," screamed Kat; "there is the old goose that we
haven't seen for so long! She has stolen her nest and hatched out six
little geese all her own! They are taking them to the canal to swim."
"Quick, Kit, quick!" said Vrouw Vedder. "Don't let them go into the
canal! We must drive them home."
Kit ran boldly forward in front of them, and Kat ran too. She spilled
some of the milk; but she was in such a hurry that she never knew it,
until afterwards, when she found some in her wooden shoes!
"K-s-s-s!" said the old goose; and she ran straight for the Twins with
her mouth open and her wings spread! The old gander ran at them too. I
can't begin to tell you how scared Kat was then! She stood right still
and screamed.
Kit was scared too; but he stood by Kat, like a brave boy, and shook
his willow switches at the geese, and shouted "Shoo! Shoo!" just as he
did at the flies.
Vrouw Vedder set her pails down in the road and came up behind,
flapping her apron. Then the old goose and the gander and all the
little goslings started slowly along the road for home, saying cross
words in Goose talk all the way!
Father Vedder was working in the garden, when the procession came down
the road. First came the geese, looking very indignant, and the
goslings. Then came Kit with the leaves all whipped off his willow
switches. Then came Kat with her pail; and, last of all, Vrouw Vedder
and the milk!
When the new family of geese had been taken care of, and the fresh milk
had been put away to cool, Vrouw Vedder got out her churn and scalded
it well. Then she put in her cream, and put the cover down over the
handle of the dasher.
"Now, Kit and Kat, you may take turns," she said, "and see which one of
you can bring the butter, but be sure you work the dasher very evenly
or the butter will not be good."
"Me first!" said Kat, and she began. Kit sat on a little stool and
watched for the butter.
Kat worked the dasher up and down, up and down. The cream splashed and
splashed inside the churn, and a little white ring of spatters came up
around the dasher. Kat worked until her arms ached.
"Now it's my turn," said Kit. Then he poked the dasher, and the cream
splashed and splashed for quite a long time; but still the butter did
not come.
"Ho!" said Kat. "You're nothing but a boy. Of course you don't know how
to churn. Let me try." And she took her turn.
Dash! Splash! Splash, dash! She worked away; and very soon, around the
dasher, there was a ring of little specks of butter.
"Come, butter, come! Come, butter, come!
Some for a honey cake, and some for a bun,"
she sang in time to the dasher; and truly, when Vrouw Vedder opened the
churn, there was a large cake of yellow butter!
Vrouw Vedder took out the butter and worked it into a nice roll. Then
she gave each of the Twins a cup of buttermilk to drink.
While the Twins drank the buttermilk, their mother washed the churn and
put it away. When she was all through, it was still quite early in the
morning, because they had gotten up with the sun.
"Now we must clean the house," she said.
So she got out her scrubbing-brushes, and mops, and pails, and dusters,
and began.
First she shook out the pillows of the best bed, that nobody ever slept
in, and pushed back the curtains so that the embroidered coverlet could
be seen. Then she put the other beds in order and drew the curtains in
front of them.
She dusted the linen press and left it open just a little, so that her
beautiful rolls of white linen, tied with ribbons, would show. Kat
dusted the chairs, and Kit carried the big brass jugs outside the
kitchen door to be polished.
Then they all three rubbed and scoured and polished them until they
shone like the sun.
"Now it is time to cook the dinner," said Vrouw Vedder. "We will have
pork and potatoes and some cabbage. Kit, run to the garden and bring a
cabbage; and Kat, you may get the fire ready to cook it, when Kit
brings it in."
Kat went to the stove--but it was such a funny stove! It wasn't a stove
at all, really.
There was a sort of table built up against the chimney. It was all
covered with pretty blue tiles, with pictures of boats on them. Over
this table, there was a shelf, like a mantel shelf. There were plates
on it, and from the bottom of the shelf hung some chains with hooks on
them. The coals were right out on the little table.
Kat took the bellows and--puff, puff, puff!--made the coals burn
brighter. She peeped in the kettle to see that there was water in it.
Then she put some more charcoal on the fire.
Kit brought in the cabbage, and Vrouw Vedder cut it up and put it into
the pot of water hanging over the fire. She put the pork and potatoes
in too.
In a little while the pot was bubbling away merrily; and Father Vedder,
who was in the garden, sniffed the air and said,
"I know what we are going to have for dinner."
While the pot boiled, Vrouw Vedder scrubbed the floor and wiped the
window. Then she took her brooms and scrubbing-brush outside.
She scrubbed the door and the outside of the house. She scrubbed the
little pig with soap. The little pig squealed, because she got some
soap in its eyes. She scrubbed the steps--and even the trunk of the
poplar tree in the yard! She scrubbed everything in sight, except
Father Vedder and the Twins! By and by she came to the door and called,
"Come to dinner! Only be sure to leave your wooden shoes outside, when
you come into my clean kitchen."
Here are the shoes, just as they left them, all in a row. And as it was
Saturday, the shoes were scrubbed too, that night.
When the dinner was cleared away, Vrouw Vedder said to the Twins,
"It is almost time for Grandmother to come. Let's walk out to meet her."
They walked clear to the edge of the town before they saw her coming.
They walked on top of the dyke, so they could look right down into the
street, and see all the houses in a row. Grandmother was coming up the
street with a basket on her arm.
"What do you think is in that basket?" Vrouw Vedder asked the Twins.
"Honey cake!" said Kit; and Kat said, "Candy!"
And Kit and Kat were both right. There was a large honey cake and anise
candies, and some currant buns besides!
Grandmother let them peep in and see. They were very polite and did not
ask for any--Vrouw Vedder was proud of the Twins' good manners.
Grandmother said,
"This afternoon, when we have tea, you shall have some."
"I'm glad I ate such a lot of dinner," said Kit to Kat, as they walked
along; "or else I'd just have to have a bun this minute!"
"Yes," said Kat, "it's much easier to be polite when you aren't hungry."
When they got home, Kit and Kat took their Grandmother to see the new
goslings, and to see the ducklings too. And Vrouw Vedder showed her the
butter that Kit and Kat had helped to churn; and Grandmother said,
"My, my! What helpers they are getting to be!" Then she said, "How
clean the house is!" and then, "How the brasses shine!"
"Yes," said Vrouw Vedder; "the Twins helped me make everything clean
and tidy to show to you."
"I guess it's time for honey cake," said Grandmother.
Then Vrouw Vedder stirred up the fire again and boiled the kettle and
made tea. She took down her best china cups and put them out on the
round table.
Then Grandmother opened her basket and took out the honey cake and buns
and the candy; and Vrouw Vedder brought out her fresh butter.
"I can't stay polite much longer," said Kit to Kat.
Grandmother gave them each a thin slice of honey cake and a bun; and
Vrouw Vedder spread some of the butter on the buns--and oh, how good
they were!
"Some for a honey cake,
And some for a bun,"
sang Kat. It didn't take the Twins long to finish them.
When they had drunk their tea, Grandmother brought out her knitting,
and Mother Vedder began to spin.
"How many rolls of linen have you ready for Kat when she marries?"
Grandmother asked.
"I try to make at least one roll each year; so she has four now and I
am working on the fifth one," said Vrouw Vedder. "She shall be as
well-to-do as any farmer's daughter near here, when she marries. See,
this is the last one," and Vrouw Vedder took from the press a roll of
beautiful white linen tied with blue ribbons.
"Is that for me, Mother?" asked Kat.
"Yes," said Vrouw Vedder. "When you marry, we shall have a fine press
full of linen for you."
"Isn't Kit going to have some too?" asked Kat.
Grandmother laughed.
"The mother of the little girl who will some day marry Kit, is working
now on her linen, no doubt; so Kit won't need any of yours."
The Twins looked very solemn and went out into the yard. They sat down
on the bench by the kitchen door together. Then Kat said,
"Kit, do you suppose we've got to be married?"
"It looks like it," said Kit.
Things seemed very dark indeed to the Twins.
"Well," said Kat, "I just tell you I'm not going to do it. I'm going to
stay at home with Mother and Father, and you and the ducks and
everything!"
"What will they do with the linen then?" said Kit. "I guess you'll have
to be married."
Kat began to cry.
"I'll just go and ask Mother," she said.
"I'll go with you," said Kit. "I don't want to any more than you do."
So the Twins got down from the bench and went into the kitchen where
Grandmother and Vrouw Vedder were.
Their mother was spinning flax to make linen thread.
"Mother," said the Twins, "will you please excuse us from being
married."
"O my soul!" said Vrouw Vedder. She seemed surprised.
"We don't want to at all," said Kat. "We'd rather stay with you."
"You shan't be married until after you are four feet and a half high
and are called Christopher and Katrina anyway," said Vrouw Vedder. "I
promise you that."
The Twins were much relieved. They went out and fed their ducklings.
They felt so much better that they gave them an extra handful of grain,
and they carried a bun to Father Vedder, who was hoeing in the farthest
corner of the garden. He ate it, leaning on his hoe.
When they went back to the house, it was late in the afternoon.
Grandmother was rolling up her knitting.
"I must go home to Grandfather;" she said. "He'll be wanting his
supper."
The Twins walked down the road as far as the first bridge with
Grandmother. There she kissed them good-bye and sent them home.
When their mother put them to bed that night, Kat said,
"Has this been a short day, Mother?"
"Oh, very short!" said Vrouw Vedder, "because you helped me so much."
Then she kissed them good-night and went out to feed the pigs, and shut
up the chickens for the night.
When she was gone, Kit said,
"I don't see how they got along before we came. We help so much!"
"No," said Kat; "I don't think--" But what she didn't think, no one
will ever know, because just then she popped off to sleep.
IV
ONE SUNDAY
One Sunday morning in early fall, Kit and Kat woke up and peeped out
from their cupboard bed to see what was going on in the world.
The sun was shining through the little panes of the kitchen window,
making square patches of light on the floor. The kettle was singing on
the fire, and Vrouw Vedder was already putting away the breakfast
things.
Father Vedder was lighting his pipe with a coal from the fire. He had
on his black Sunday clothes, all ready for church. Father Vedder did
not look at Kit and Kat at all. He just puffed away at his pipe and
said to himself,
"If there are any Twins anywhere that want to go to church with me,
they'd better get dressed and eat their breakfasts."
Kit and Kat tumbled out of the cupboard at once.
Vrouw Vedder came to help them dress.
I can't tell you how many petticoats she put on Kat, but it was ever so
many. And over them all she put a skirt of plaid. There was a waist of
a different color, and over that a kerchief with bright red roses on
it. And over the skirt she put a new, clean apron.
Kit was dressed very splendidly too. He had full baggy trousers of
velveteen that reached to his ankles, and a jacket that buttoned with
big silver buttons. His trousers had pockets in them.
Kit and Kat both wore stockings, which Vrouw Vedder had knit, and their
best shoes of stout leather.
When they were all dressed, Vrouw Vedder stood them up side by side and
had them turn around slowly to be sure they were all right.
"Now see that you behave well in meeting," she said. "Sit up straight.
Look at the Dominie, and do not whisper."
"Yes, Mother," said Kit and Kat.
Then she tied a big apron over each of them and gave them each a bowl
of bread and milk. While they were eating it, Father Vedder went out
and looked at the pigs, and chickens, and ducks, and geese, and smoked
his pipe.
When he came in, Kit and Kat were quite ready. Vrouw Vedder had tied on
Kat's little white-winged cap, and put Kit's hat on. She kissed them
good-bye, and they were off, one on each side of Father Vedder, holding
tight to his hands.
Mother Vedder looked after them proudly, from the doorway. She did not
go to church that day.
They walked slowly along the roadway in the bright sunshine. Many of
their neighbors and friends, all dressed in their best, were walking to
church, too.
Father Vedder and Kit and Kat went a little out of their way, in order
to pass a large windmill that was swinging its arms around and creaking
out a kind of sleepy windmill song. This is the song it seemed to sing:
Around, and around, and around, I go,
Sometimes fast and sometimes slow.
I pump the water and grind the grain,
The marshy fields of the Lowlands, drain.
I harness the wind to turn my mill,
Around, and around, and around with a will!
Perhaps it was listening to the windmill song that made Kat say,
"Why do we have windmills, father?"
Kit and Kat said "Why?" every few steps on that walk. You see, they
didn't often have their father all to themselves, to ask questions of.
"Why, what a little Dutch girl," said Father Vedder, "not to know what
windmills are for! They pump the water out of the fields, to be sure!
Don't you know how wet the fields are sometimes? If we didn't keep
pumping the water out, they would be so wet we could not make gardens
at all."
"Does the wind pump the water?" asked Kat.
"Of course it does, goosie girl! and grinds the grain too. The wind
blows against the great arms and turns them round and round. That works
the pumps; and the pumps suck the water out of the fields, and it is
poured out into the canals. If it weren't for the good old windmills
working away, who knows but the water would get the best of us some day
and cover up all our land!"
"Wouldn't the dykes keep out the sea?" asked Kit.
"Suppose the dykes should break!" said Father Vedder. "Even one little
break can let in lots of water. The dykes have to be watched day and
night all the time, and the least bit of a hole stopped up right away,
so it can't grow any bigger and let in the sea."
"Oh dear," Kat said, "what a leaky country!"
She ran near the mill and let the wind from the fans blow her hair and
the white wings on her cap.
As the great fans swung near the ground, Kit jumped up and caught hold
of one. It lifted him right off the ground as it swung around, and in a
minute he was dangling high in the air.
"Jump, jump, quick," shouted Father Vedder.
Kit let go and dropped to the ground just in time. In another minute he
would have been carried clear over.
As it was, he sat down very hard on the ground, and had to have the
dirt brushed off of his Sunday clothes.
"I am surprised at you," Father Vedder said, while he brushed him. "You
are too small to swing on windmills, and besides it is the Sabbath day.
Don't you ever do it again until you are big enough to be called
Christopher!"
Sitting down so hard in the dirt had hurt Kit a little bit, and scared
him a good deal, so he said, "No, father."
Then they walked all around the mill. They peeped inside a door which
was open, and saw the pumps working away.
"Yes," said Father Vedder, "it is nip and tuck between wind and water
in Holland. Let us sit down here on the canal bank, in the sunshine,
and I will tell you what hard work has to be done to keep this good
land of ours. And it is a good land! We should be thankful for it! Just
see the rich green meadows over there, with the cows grazing in them!"
Father Vedder pointed to the beautiful fields across the canal. "The
grass is so rich and fresh, that the cows here give more milk than any
other cows in the whole world!"
"That's what Mother says," said Kat.
"The Holland butter and cheese are famous everywhere," went on Father
Vedder; "and we have all the good milk we want to drink, besides. The
Dutch gardens, too, are the finest in the world."
"And ours is one of the best of Dutch gardens, isn't it, Father?" said
Kit.
"It's a very good garden," said Father Vedder, proudly. "No one can
raise better onions and cabbage and carrots than I can. And the Dutch
bulbs! Our tulips and hyacinths make the whole world bloom!"
"Holland is really the greatest country there is; isn't it?" said Kit.
"Well, not in point of size, perhaps," Father Vedder admitted; "but in
pluck, my boy, it is! Did you know that sometimes people call Holland
the Land of Pluck?"
"I don't see why," said Kat. "I'm Dutch, but I'm afraid of lots of
things! I'm afraid of spiders and of cross geese, and of falling into
the water!"
"You're a girl, if you are Dutch," said Kit. "Boys are always pluckier
than girls; aren't they, Father?"
"Really plucky people never boast," said Father Vedder.
Kit looked the other way and dug the toe of his shoe into the dirt. Kat
snuggled up to her Father and sniffed at Kit.
"So there, Kit!" was all she said.
"There's pluck enough to go round," said Father Vedder mildly, "and we
all need it boys and girls, and men and women too. It was pluck that
made Holland, and it's pluck that keeps her from slipping back into the
sea."
"How did pluck make Holland?" asked Kit.
"There wasn't any Holland in the first place," Father Vedder answered.
"There were only some marshes and some lands under water. But people
built a wall of earth around these flats; and then they pumped out the
water from the space inside the wall, and made canals through the land,
and drained it. And after all that work, we have our rich fields."
"How does pluck keep them?" asked Kat.
"The dykes have to be watched and mended all the time," said Father
Vedder. "And the windmills have to work and work, to keep the fields
drained. No one can be lazy in Holland. Each one has to work well for
what he gets. If Holland should grow lazy, she would soon be back again
in the Zuyder Zee! So, my children, you see you must learn well and
work hard. And that is all my sermon to-day."
"It is a better sermon than the Dominie will preach, I know," said Kat.
"Tut, tut! You must never say such things," said Father Vedder. He got
up and held out his hands to the Twins.
"Come! we must walk along, or we shall be late for church," he said.
"Here comes the Dominie now."
There indeed was the Dominie! Kit and Kat knew him well. No one else
dressed as he did. He wore a high silk hat, and long, black coat and
trousers, such as city people wear.
As he came along the road, all the people bowed respectfully; the
little boys took off their caps, and the little girls bobbed a
courtesy. Kit and Kat bobbed and courtesied too, and the Dominie smiled
at them and laid his hand on Kit's head.
"I wish he'd come to see us again," said Kit, after the Dominie had
passed by.
Father Vedder was pleased.
"I am glad to see that you love your pastor, my son," he said.
"Well," said Kit, "I don't really like him so very much, because we
have to be washed, and recite the catechism, and mind all our manners
when he comes. But Mother always has such good things to eat when the
Dominie comes--doesn't she, Kat?--cake and preserves and everything!"
"If it weren't for the catechism and such things, it would be something
like St. Nicholas day!" sighed Kat. "But the Dominie never forgets! And
last time I couldn't tell what saving grace was! The cakes are good,
but..."
"Good Dutch boys and girls always learn their catechism well," said
Father Vedder; "then they are glad to see the good Dominie as well as
the cakes. Now no more chatter! Here is a penny for each of you to put
in the bag when it is passed."
He gave them each a penny. Kit put his in his pocket. Kat didn't have a
pocket, so she held hers tight in her hand.
At the church door they met Grandfather and Grandmother.
Grandfather looked very fine indeed, in his black clothes; and
Grandmother was all dressed up in her best black dress, with a fresh
white cap, and a shawl over her shoulders. She carried a large psalm
book with golden clasps in one hand, and a scent bottle in the other.
She had some peppermints too. Kit and Kat smelled them.
They all went into the church together, and an old woman led them to
their seats. Kit and Kat sat one on each side of Grandmother.
Grandfather and Father Vedder sat on the other side of the church with
all the rest of the men.
"You must sit very still and look straight before you," said
Grandmother.