After leaving the old fire-woman, who nodded a pleasant good-bye to us, and willingly put our stivers in her great outside pocket, we drove through the streets enjoying the singular sights of a public washing day. Yes, in certain quarters of the city, away from the canals, the streets were lively with washerwomen hard at work. Hundreds of them in clumsy wooden shoes, with their tucked-up skirts, bare arms and close-fitting caps, were bending over tall wooden tubs that reached as high as their waists--gossiping and rubbing, rubbing and gossiping--with perfect unconcern, in the public thoroughfare, and all washing with cold water instead of using hot, as we do. What a grand thing it would be for our old fire-woman if boiling water were suddenly to become the fashion on these public washing days! But I forget. If this letter ever reaches you, it must do so by being put in the place where prefaces belong, a small place, you know, that holds very little, and where, to tell the truth, readers generally wish to find still less. So, good-bye. O! I must tell you one more thing. We found to-day in an Amsterdam bookstore this story of Hans Brinker told in Dutch. It is a queer looking volume, beautifully printed, and with colored pictures, but filled with such astonishing words that it really made me feel sorry for the little Hollanders who are to read them. Good-bye, again, in the touching words of our Dutch translator with whom I'm sure you'll heartily agree: Toch ben ik er mijn landgenooten dank baar voor, die mijn arbeid steeds zoo welwillend outvangen en wier genegenheid ik voortdurend hoop te verdienen. Yours affectionately, THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS I. HANS AND GRETEL 13 II. HOLLAND 18 III. THE SILVER SKATES 28 IV. HANS AND GRETEL FIND A FRIEND 34 V. SHADOWS IN THE HOME 42 VI. SUNBEAMS 50 VII. HANS HAS HIS WAY 55 VIII. INTRODUCING JACOB POOT AND HIS COUSIN 59 IX. THE FESTIVAL OF SAINT NICHOLAS 66 X. WHAT THE BOYS SAW AND DID IN AMSTERDAM 76 XI. BIG MANIAS AND LITTLE ODDITIES 86 XII. ON THE WAY TO HAARLEM 94 XIII. A CATASTROPHE 98 XIV. HANS 102 XV. HOMES 108 XVI. HAARLEM, THE BOYS HEAR VOICES 116 XVII. THE MAN WITH FOUR HEADS 123 XVIII. FRIENDS IN NEED 129 XIX. ON THE CANAL 137 XX. JACOB POOT CHANGES THE PLAN 144 XXI. MYNHEER KLEEF AND HIS BILL OF FARE 152