The Dutch Twins Read online

  Produced by Lynn Hill. Dedicated to Luana Rodriquez. HTMLversion 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 inHolland. Kit is the boy, and Kat is the girl.

  Of course their real names are not Kit and Kat at all. Their real namesare Christopher and Katrina. But you can see for yourself that suchlong names as that would never in the world fit such a short pair ofTwins. So the Twins' Mother, Vrouw Vedder, said,

  "They cannot be called Christopher and Katrina until they are four anda 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 upmuch faster than twins. Kit and Kat ate a great many breakfasts anddinners and suppers, and played a great many plays, and had a greatmany happy days while they were growing up to their names. I will tellyou about some of them.

  I.

  THE DAY THEY WENT FISHING

  One summer morning, very early, Vrouw Vedder opened the door of herlittle Dutch kitchen and stepped out.

  She looked across the road which ran by the house, across the canal onthe other side, across the level green fields that lay beyond, clear tothe blue rim of the world, where the sky touches the earth. The sky wasvery blue; and the great, round, shining face of the sun was justpeering over the tops of the trees, as she looked out.

  Vrouw Vedder listened. The roosters in the barnyard were crowing, theducks in the canal were quacking, and all the little birds in thefields were singing for joy. Vrouw Vedder hummed a slow little tune ofher own, as she went back into her kitchen.

  Kit and Kat were still asleep in their little cupboard bed. She gavethem 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 allawake and singing, and Grandfather is going fishing to-day. If you willhurry, you may go with him! He is coming at six o'clock; so pop out ofbed and get dressed. I will put some lunch for you in the yellowbasket, and you may dig worms for bait in the garden. Only be sure notto step on the young cabbages that Father planted."

  Kit and Kat bounced out of bed in a minute. Their mother helped themput on their clothes and new wooden shoes. Then she gave them each abowl of bread and milk for their breakfast. They ate it sitting on thekitchen doorstep.

  This is a picture of Kit and Kat digging worms. You see they did justas their mother said, and did not step on the young cabbages. They saton them, instead. But that was an accident.

  Kit dug the worms, and Kat put them into a basket, with some earth init to make them feel at home.

  When Grandfather came, he brought a large fishing-rod for himself andtwo little ones for the Twins. There was a little hook on the end ofeach 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 roadbeside the canal.

  The house where the Twins lived was right beside the canal. Theirfather was a gardener, and his beautiful rows of cabbages and beets andonions stretched in long lines across the level fields by the roadside.

  Grandfather lived in a large town, a little way beyond the farm wherethe Twins lived. He did not often have a holiday, because he carriedmilk 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 andKat carried the basket of worms between them, and their rods over theirshoulders, and they were all three very happy.

  They walked along ever so far, beside the canal. Then they turned tothe left and walked along a path that ran from the canal across thegreen fields to what looked like a hill.

  But it wasn't a hill at all, really, because there aren't any hills inHolland. It was a long, long wall of earth, very high--oh, as high as ahouse, or even higher! And it had sloping sides.

  There is such a wall of earth all around the country of Holland, wherethe Twins live. There has to be a wall, because the sea is higher thanthe land. If there were no walls to shut out the sea, the whole countrywould be covered with water; and if that were so, then there wouldn'tbe any Holland, or any Holland Twins, or any story. So you see it wasvery 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 thetop, they sat down a few minutes to rest and look at the great bluesea. Grandfather sat in the middle, with Kit on one side, and Kat onthe 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," saidGrandfather.

  "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 forlittle girls in other countries," said Grandfather.

  "Is that all?" asked Kit.

  "They take cheese and herring, bulbs and butter, and lots of otherthings besides, and bring back to us wheat and meat and all sorts ofgood 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 ahalf high and is called Katrina. There's no telling what girls will doanyway. 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 pierthat ran from the sandy beach into the water.

  Grandfather showed them how to bait their hooks. Kit baited Kat's forher, because Kat said it made her all wriggly inside to do it. She didnot like it. Neither did the worm!

  They all sat down on the end of the pier, Grandfather sat on the veryend and let his wooden shoes hang down over the water; but he made Kitand Kat sit with their feet stuck straight out in front of them, sothey 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 fora bite. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, and it grewhotter and hotter on the pier. The flies tickled Kat's nose and madeher 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 perfectlysure she did.

  Kat squealed and jerked her rod. She jerked it so hard that o
ne footflew right up in the air, and one of her new wooden shoeswent--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 ithappened--there was Kit in the water, too, splashing like a youngwhale, 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'srod 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 andears.

  "O Kit," she said, "I truly thought it was a fish on my line when Ijumped!"

  "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, becausethey were thinking so hard about Kit.

  They ran to the end of the pier and looked. There was Kat's shoesailing away toward America like a little boat! Kit's were stillbobbing about in the water near the pier.

  "Oh! Oh! Oh!" shrieked Kat; but the tide was going out and carrying hershoe farther away every minute. They could not get it; but Grandfatherreached down with his rod and fished out both of Kit's shoes. Then Kattook off her other one and her stockings, and they all three went backto the beach.

  Grandfather and Kat covered Kit up with sand to keep him warm while hisclothes were drying. Then Grandfather stuck the Twins' fish-poles up inthe sand and tied the lines together for a clothes-line, and hung Kit'sclothes up on it, and Kat put their three wooden shoes in a row besideKit.

  Then they ate their luncheon of bread and butter, cheese, and milk,with some radishes from Father's garden. It tasted very good, even ifit was sandy. After lunch Grandfather said, "It will never do to gohome without any fish at all."

  So by and by he went back to the pier and caught one while the Twinsplayed 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 coveredup 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 inclam-shells and set them in a row in the sun to bake.

  They played until the shadow of the dyke grew very long across thesandy 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 thethick 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 roadby the canal. The road shone, like a strip of yellow ribbon across thegreen 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 atthe gate."

  Grandfather gave the fish he caught to Kit and Kat, and Vrouw Veddercooked it for their supper; and though it was not a very big fish, theyall had some.

  Grandfather must have told Vrouw Vedder something about what hadhappened; for that night, when she put Kit to bed, she felt of hisclothes 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 himmake you another shoe."

  Then Kit and Kat hugged her and said good-night, and popped off tosleep before you could wink your eyes.