CONTENTS:
Chapter One: A Skating Picnic
Chapter Two: Evert's Accident
Chapter Three: Snow Pancakes
Chapter Four: Evert's Plan
Chapter Five: More Adventures
Chapter Six: Home Again
ILLUSTRATIONS:
Teacher gripped the front of the long pole
She forgot her fear in looking at the fine scenery around her
The canal narrowed considerably after it passed under the watergate
As many as could now took seats around the table
She joined him in admiring the gay scene
Balls flew right, left, and center, high and low
"Let's go up the stairs and have a look through the window"
The horses went off at a brisk trot, all the little bells tinkling their good-by
***
FOREWORD:
THIS is a book which mothers and fathers will sit up to finish, after the protesting child has been dragged firmly off to bed. Nobody who is once well along in this book will let the fortunes of Evert and Afke - and even more particularly, perhaps, of Simon - rest in uncertainty until tomorrow, except such members of the household as have no choice in the matter.
For this is more than just the charming account of certain Dutch customs, a description of what happens in the winter in Holland when there is ice on the canals; this is a good story. The children whose acquaintance you make in "A Day on Skates" are real children, not puppets; you will meet in these pages no dull little Miss Good, no tiresome little Master Naughty; these are real children, and they are delightful children. It is most unlikely that the small reader, or for that matter the reader who is very large indeed, will be indifferent as to whether or not the burgomaster changes his mind about (but I mustn't tell you what); whether or not the boys get safely down from (but I mustn't tell you where); whether or not Simon ever wins the friendship of (no, I mustn't say of whom).
Then there are the illustrations, which, in addition to being so extremely pretty just to look at, are so full of vivid and interesting detail, that if you study them a bit carefully you will not only get pleasure and amusement from them, you will also be learning something, and quite painlessly, too.
In short, this is a book which should be in the library of every child who likes to read, or likes to look at pictures, or is curious to know what children in foreign countries are like.
EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY
Lulworth Cove, Dorset
April, 1934
* * * * *
a selection from CHAPTER I - A Skating Picnic:
IN THAT small country called Holland, with its many canals and dykes, its low fields and quaint little villages, Father Frost went prowling round one January night, with his bag full of wonders. It had been a warm winter, full of rain and mist. The children had complained and the elderly people had coughed and grumbled that life was not what it used to be. How dreary that little country looked when the fields were soaked with rain and the trees stretched their naked branches hopelessly towards the gray clouds.
Nine-year-old Evert and Afke were sure that real winter would never come. Every day they had to walk to school on sleety roads, their clogs slipping along in the mud. They lived in the village of Elst, which lies in the Province of Friesland, and this January night they were fast asleep under the large thatched roof of their mother's and father's farmhouse, not knowing how busy Father Frost was outside.
First Father Frost waved his hand and snow came falling down, hushing all sound and covering everything with its downy cloak. Then he blew the clouds away, and stars began to twinkle in the dark sky....
