DUTCH CHILDREN

How would you like to go to Holland with me to visit the little Dutch children?

First we must go to New York City in a railroad train and then get on board of one of the big ships that cross the ocean.

We shall have to travel over the water five or six days and nights in this big ship, and then ride a long way, after we come to land.

When the Pilgrims came to this country, nearly three hundred years ago, they crossed the same ocean, but it took them many weeks. They were in a small sailing vessel¹, and had to come very slowly.

On board of this big ship you will find a great many things to do and see. There are several hundred people on the vessel, and it is interesting to watch them. There are books to read, and games to play, and the days will go very swiftly.

Most of the time you will not be able to see land in any direction. All you can see is the sun anddecoration21decoration the sky and the ocean with big waves rolling and tossing about.

I wonder what you will notice the very first thing when you reach Holland.
two girls knitting

Perhaps you will see a group of children running down the street with their wooden shoes clacking on the stone walks.

Or perhaps you will see some girls standing² at adecoration22decoration corner knitting stockings, or a boy driving a dog harnessed to a little cart.

If you take a train and ride through the country you will see many strange things.

There are big windmills everywhere, with long arms, and sails to catch the wind. These mills turn wheels to pump water and grind corn and saw wood. In Holland there are no rivers with falls and swift currents to turn the mill wheels.

In some towns there are canals instead of streets, with bridges for the people to cross from one side to the other.

In summer there are many boats going up and down the canals, but in winter the water in the canals freezes, and then everybody skates. Think what fun it must be to skate to church, to skate to market, to skate to school, and then skate home again!

A great many of the poor children in Holland wear wooden shoes when they are out of doors. When they go into the house they take off their shoes anddecoration23decoration leave them at the door. You can tell, by counting the pairs of shoes at the door, how many children there are in the house.

Every week the children scrub their wooden shoes with soap and water until they are almost as white as snow; then they dry them in the sun, or before the fire in the big open fireplace.

These wooden shoes make fine boats, and sometimes the boys take them off and sail them in the canals. The little girls use them for doll carriages, or play they are beds, and tuck their dolls into them for a nap.

If you were walking down a village street in Holland you might see a red silk ball, or a pink silk one, hanging at the front door of one of the houses. This is to show that there is a little new baby in the house. If the ball is red, the baby is a boy; if it is pink, the baby is a girl.

There are very good schools in Holland, and all the children go to school and learn to read and write and sing, just as you do. But their reading and singingdecoration24decoration would sound very strange to you, and you could not read one word of their writing.

The Dutch children have vacations and holidays, of course. The holiday they like best of all is Santa Claus Day. It comes on the sixth day of December, and is very much like our Christmas Day.

The boys and girls put their wooden shoes in front of the fireplace, on the hearth³, just as you hang your stocking near the chimney, and Santa Claus rides over the roofs of the houses on a big horse and drops presents down the chimney into the little shoes.

How would you go from your home to New York City? How long would it take?

What would you like to see in Holland?

What would you see that you never saw before?

Why do the people in Holland build windmills?

What kind of shoes do many of the children wear?

What season would you like best if you were in Holland? Why?

1 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。