with red-tiled roofs."

The next thing the boys observed was the loneliness of the streets. In
America a town of twelve thousand inhabitants would have more of an
air of bustle, they said. Will liked the quiet, "for a change," as he
expressed it, and because it made him feel, somehow, as if he owned
the place. Martin declared it to be his opinion that the people kept
out of the streets for fear that their shoes would soil them, and that
accounted for the almost spotless cleanliness everywhere.

The streets were not deserted, however; for, at intervals, there were
row-boat ferries across the river, and occasionally a man or woman
would be seen in one of these boats.

There were also a number of children, and some women, in the streets.
These apparently belonged to the poorer classes. Hats and bonnets were
scarce among them, though all the women, and many of the little girls,
had on close-fitting muslin caps. They wore short, loose sacques, and
short dress skirts, made up without trimmings. The boys were dressed
in jackets and baggy trousers. All wore clumsy wooden shoes.

The Van Schaick family followed the French fashions, as we do in
America; the difference between the two countries being that here
every one attempts to follow the prevailing style, while in Holland
this change of fashion is confined to the wealthy; the middle and
lower classes preserving the same style of costume from generation to
generation.

A good many of the children in the street were carrying painted iron
or stone buckets, with a tea-kettle on the top. After proceeding some
distance up the street, Will and Martin saw some of them coming out of
a basement door-way, still with the buckets in their hands; but clouds
of steam were issuing from the tea-kettle spouts!

"What place is that?" asked Will.

"It is the fire-woman's," said Greta.

"And who and what may she be? I have heard of water-women, sometimes
called mermaids, but never before did I hear of a fire-woman."

"She don't _live_ in fire," said Greta; "she _sells_ it. What do the
poor people in your country do in summer without a fire-woman? Come
and look in."

[Illustration: AT THE FIRE-WOMAN'S.]

By this time they had reached the place. Over the door was the sign
"_Water en vuur te koop_."[1] It was not necessary for the children to
go inside. They could see the whole apartment through the wide-open
door-way. An old woman stood by a stove, or great oven, with a pair
of tongs,