30 THE LAND OF PLUCK

dresses are seen in great variety. Some have plain gold
bands over the forehead, others have gold or silver plates
at the back, and some have deep folds of rich lace hanging
from them. The writer once saw two young women walk-
ing together in Rotterdam, one of whom wore a fashion-
able French bonnet, and the other a queer head-gear with

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rosettes and golden “ blinders” projecting on each side of
her forehead. Little girls often are very charming with
their sweet, bright faces, their clean, trig, simple attire, and
their queer white caps decked with a gold band over the
forehead and small gold twirls dangling at each side. The
little visitor in the picture on page 31 is one of these, and
you see how carefully she has slipped off her wooden shoes
so as not to soil her hostess’s spotless floors. Then there
are the boys, cheerful, clean, and sturdy; some dressed in
modern-looking hats and suits; but others wearing such
short jackets and loose knee-breeches, you would declare
they had borrowed the former from their little brothers
and the latter from their erandfathers.

Now and then, in our own country, we hear vague ru-
mors of a person having been born with a silver spoon in
his mouth. As a rule, we scorn to credit such stories, but
if we were told that all Dutchmen were born with pipes in
their mouths, we probably should not consider it worth
while to doubt. In making an inventory of a Dutch rus-
tic’s face, you would need to mention two eyes, two ears,
one nose, one mouth, and one pipe. To be sure, there
might be but one eye, or one ear, or no nose; but there
certainly would be a pipe. The pipe-rack on the wall, and
a large box of tobacco attached beneath, so that any guest