When they
are dry, they are almost as white as snow.
Winter is a very merry season in Holland. Then all the canals are
frozen, and there is great fun skating. Everybody has skates, even the
little children. And how merry and happy the boys and girls are,
skimming along on the ice!
[Illustration: Skating in Holland.]
The men and women go to market on skates. Those who do not wish to go
on skates go in sleds or chairs with runners on them. The chairs are
pushed by skaters.
But the best fun of all is on the ice boats. The ice boats have sails,
and can go very fast on the smooth ice.
The first day of skating every year is a holiday. There is no school
that day, and everybody goes out skating, or riding in sleds or ice
boats. How glad the boys and girls are when Skating Day comes! What
fun they have! And of course they have sleigh riding, for every family
has a sleigh. The sleighs are made like shells, or boats, or swans.
When the people go sleigh riding at night, they carry lighted torches.
The greatest holiday the Dutch have is Santa Claus's day. It is on
December 6. All the stores are made pretty on that day. Santa Claus
is in the windows.
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