"The Indians are pleasant and willing to be friends. They kill great numbers of the wild animals with their bows and arrows and they tan the skins." So the sailors said. "Why not send some of our people to live on the shores of the Hudson River?" thought the thrifty Dutch. "They can carry with them shiploads of knives, axes, beads, and other things the Red Men like. They can trade those things for the furs that bring high prices here in Europe." This is how it happened that the Dutch people came to settle in America. They brought chests full of linen, as well as the shining pewter dishes they used in housekeeping. In fact, they packed in their ships everything they needed to make themselves comfortable and happy. When they built their houses in America they made them look as much as possible like the homes they left behind them. They made their fireplaces large enough to hold logs of great size. In the cold winter evenings these logs crackled and burned brightly while the Dutchmen with their wives and children sat before the fire and told stories. Every house had a porch. As the sun set and the moon came out in the summer time, the men sat in the porches telling stories and smoking their pipes while their wives sat knitting beside them and the children romped and played around the dooryards. They still dressed in the fashions of their country. The men had hats with broad brims and coats with wide skirts. The women wore so many short skirts they looked like opened umbrellas. These Dutch people were honest and they had kind hearts, so they got along pretty well with their Indian neighbors. They hated idleness and they were very neat. All of them worked during the day, but when evening came it was a time for rest and pleasure. Then were told the stories of the old days in Holland, of fairies, and of the gnomes who lived underground digging copper and gold. [Illustration: THE DUTCH CHILDREN AT PLAY] When the thunder rolled in the sky, they would nod to each other and say: "It is only Henry Hudson and his men playing ninepins with the dwarfs in the caves of the Catskill mountains." You shall now hear how this queer fancy came into their heads. After the brave captain had discovered the Hudson River and gone back to Europe, he tried once more to find a short way to India. He thought it best to cross the ocean again, but to sail farther north than he had done on his first voyage to this country. After he had reached the shores of America, he came into a large bay. The land around him was bare and dreary. The ship was kept all winter in this bay on account of the ice. The sailors suffered very much from the bitter cold. Many of them became sick and died before the spring opened and the ice broke up enough to let the ship move on. By this time the food was almost gone. The day came when Hudson took the last of the bread and divided it among his crew. He was so sad and hopeless that tears filled his eyes.