Our Little Swiss CousinWade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
General
Our Little Swiss Cousin
Wade, Mary Hazelton Blanchard
Children -- Switzerland -- Juvenile literature; Switzerland -- Social life and customs -- Juvenile literature
"O, no, the schoolmaster says that many tools have been found in the
beds of earth between the piles. They were almost all of stone. Besides
these, there were things to use in housekeeping, and nets for fishing,
and cloth, and even embroidery."
"Dear me! I never happened to hear of these strange people before,"
exclaimed Rudolf. "What name did the master give them, Carl?"
"He called them Lake-dwellers, because they built their houses out over
the water."
"Does he know any more about them and why they chose such queer places
for their homes instead of the pretty valleys or mountainsides?"
"He said it must have been in a warlike time and probably these people
felt safer to dwell in this way. You see they could easily defend
themselves in such places. Yet they had some farms and gardens, so they
did not stay there all the time.
"They had very queer homes. The floors were made of round sticks, laid
side by side. The chinks were filled in with clay and rushes. The roofs
were made of straw and rushes put on in layers."
"How strange this all is. I don't really see how so much could be
discovered," said Rudolf, half to himself. Then he went on, "I suppose
they had no cows or other domestic animals, of course."
"O, yes, they had, father." Carl was proud to think he could tell his
father so many things about them. "They had cattle, and sheep, and
goats, and pigs; and they kept them in stalls in these lake dwellings.
"Why, only think! though it was three thousand years ago, probably,
these people not only fished and hunted, but they spun flax and wove
cloth. They made bread of wheat and other grains to eat with the fish
they caught and the deer they killed. They must have known quite a deal
to do that, even if they didn't write books to tell about themselves.
Don't you think so?"
"Yes, Carl, I certainly think so. But come, it is getting late and we
must go back to your mother and our friends. To-morrow we shall leave
them and turn our faces toward our own little home. Are you ready for
the long tramp?"
"Yes, my feet are tough now, and I don't believe they will get so sore
as they did in coming. What a lovely time I have had. You are such a
good, kind father to bring me here, as well as to the chapel of the
holy Meinrad."
Carl looked up at Rudolf with such a happy face that his father bent
down and kissed him.
THE END.
THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
The most delightful and interesting accounts possible of child-life in
other lands, filled with quaint sayings, doings, and adventures.
Each 1 vol., 12mo, decorative cover, cloth, with six or more full-page
illustrations in color.
Price per volume $0.60
_By MARY HAZELTON WADE (unless otherwise indicated)_
=Our Little African Cousin=
=Our Little Armenian Cousin=
=Our Little Brown Cousin=
=Our Little Canadian Cousin=
By Elizabeth R. Macdonald
=Our Little Chinese Cousin=
By Isaac Taylor Headland
=Our Little Cuban Cousin=
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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