The people who live in Holland are called Dutch.
There are many canals in Holland. In some of the towns they have
canals instead of streets. There are bridges across the canals for
people to go from one side of the street to the other. In some of the
streets they have no sidewalks, and nothing between the houses but
canals.
[Illustration: Canals in Holland.]
In most of the houses they have no carpets. They scatter white sand on
the floor every morning. They keep their houses very clean. In their
kitchens they have open fireplaces, with fires blazing brightly. Near
the fires they have footstools made of cork. In some houses they have
fire boxes for warming their feet. They can carry these boxes wherever
they like. In cold weather they take their fire boxes to church.
Wherever you go in Holland you see windmills. When you see them far
off they look like giants with their arms stretched out. The arms are
shaped like ladders. The arms have sails on them to catch the wind.
It is the wind that makes the arms go round. With these windmills the
people pump up water, and grind corn, and saw wood. The land is very
flat and low. There are no swift running streams to turn the mills.
So the people build windmills.
[Illustration: Windmills in Holland.]
The great wonder of Holland is the dikes. Holland is near the sea, and
so dikes are built along the beach to keep the water out. The dikes
are strong walls made of earth and stones. They are very high, and so
thick that on the top there is a road to walk and ride on. In some
parts of Holland there are houses also on the top of the dikes. If it
were not for these dikes, the sea would flow in on the land. Then it
would cover the houses and towns, and drown the people.
Did you ever hear the story of the little boy and the hole in the dike?
The little boy's name was Hans. He lived near the great dikes along
the sea. One day his mother sent him on an errand.
When he was coming home, he saw water flowing from a small hole in the
dike. He knew that the water came from the sea. Then he said to
himself, "If that water is not stopped, the hole will get larger. Then
the sea will break in, and we shall all be drowned."
So Hans went up to the dike and put his hand against the hole, and
stopped the water. This was very hard to do. But the little fellow
held bravely on.
When night came and Hans did not come home, his father and some of the
people who lived close by went to search for him. After many hours
they found him at the dike, keeping the water back with his hand. Then
his father took him home, and the men stopped up the hole in the dike.
Everybody praised Hans for what he had done.
The little children in Holland are very pretty. They have round, fat
faces, golden hair, and blue eyes. The boys wear wide trousers and
little round caps. The girls wear jackets and skirts and little caps
with gold braid.
Both boys and girls wear wooden shoes. And what a noise they do make
with their wooden shoes when they run around! They have great fun
playing their shoes are boats. They sit on the sides of the canals and
take off their shoes and sail them on the water like little boats.
They tie strings to the shoes so that they can draw them in whenever
they like.
[Illustration: Dutch Girl with Wooden Shoes.]
Dutch children do not wear shoes in the house, but wear slippers. When
they go home after playing or from school they take off their shoes.
They leave them outside the door. Would you not think it strange to
see rows of little shoes outside the doors?
Every Saturday the children clean their shoes. But they do not shine
them as we do. They wash them with soap and water, and dry them at the
fire. If the sun shines, they hang them on a bush to dry. When they
are dry, they are almost as white as snow.
Winter is a very merry season in Holland. Then all the canals are
frozen, and there is great fun skating. Everybody has skates, even the
little children. And how merry and happy the boys and girls are,
skimming along on the ice!
[Illustration: Skating in Holland.]
The men and women go to market on skates. Those who do not wish to go
on skates go in sleds or chairs with runners on them. The chairs are
pushed by skaters.
But the best fun of all is on the ice boats. The ice boats have sails,
and can go very fast on the smooth ice.
The first day of skating every year is a holiday. There is no school
that day, and everybody goes out skating, or riding in sleds or ice
boats. How glad the boys and girls are when Skating Day comes! What
fun they have! And of course they have sleigh riding, for every family
has a sleigh. The sleighs are made like shells, or boats, or swans.
When the people go sleigh riding at night, they carry lighted torches.
The greatest holiday the Dutch have is Santa Claus's day. It is on
December 6. All the stores are made pretty on that day. Santa Claus
is in the windows. He is dressed in red with white fur, and rides a
large horse. The streets are crowded with boys and girls to see all
this. They have Santa Claus cakes, and gingerbread made like chairs
and tables and fishes and horses and many other things.
At night Santa Claus rides on the roofs of the houses, and drops nice
things down the chimneys for good children. And the boys and girls
leave their shoes near the fireplace for the things to drop in.
But they do not find many toys in their shoes, for Santa likes better
to give them cakes and money. The Dutch boys and girls have not many
toys, but they play for hours with their shoes. They use them for
boats, baskets, dishes, or beds for their dolls.
They have fine schools in Holland, and the boys and girls go to school
and learn the same things that we learn in our schools.
Some Dutch girls go to market to sell milk or cheese. They have
donkeys to carry the milk or cheese. Sometimes, the girls ride on the
donkeys' backs.
Some Dutch girls also go to market to sell fruit. They carry the fruit
on a pole across the back of their shoulders. A basket of fruit hangs
from each end of the pole, as you see in the picture. The boys sell
milk. They carry it about in little wagons drawn by dogs. They are
very kind to the dogs. They do not make them draw too heavy a load.
[Illustration: A Dutch Milkmaid.]
When a baby is born in Holland, some one hangs a silk ball outside the
door. If the baby is a boy, they hang up a red ball; and if it is a
girl, they hang up a pink ball. Is not this a good way to let their
friends know they have a new baby?