e worst of it; they can't
understand that _I can't understand_ them. Sometimes the woman that
comes to make my bed tells me something in Dutch, and I tell her that I
can't understand. I know the Dutch for 'I can't understand.' Then she
says, 'O!' and goes on to tell me over again, only now she tries to
speak plainer--as if it could make any difference to me whether she
speaks plain or not. I shake my head, and tell her I can't understand
any thing. I tell her in French, and in English, and in Dutch. But it
does not do any good, for she immediately begins again, and tells me the
whole story all over again, trying to speak plainer than ever. I suppose
she thinks that any body can understand Dutch, if she only speaks it
plain enough to them.

"When I want any thing of them, I always tell them by signs. The other
evening, uncle George and I wanted some candles. So I rang the bell, and
a woman came. I went to the door of the room, and made believe that I
had two candlesticks in my hand, and that I was bringing them in. I
made believe put them on the table, and then sat down and opened a book,
and pretended that I was reading by the light of them. She understood me
immediately. She laughed, and said, 'Ya, ya!' and went off out of the
room to get the candles.

"Ya, ya, means yes, yes.

"Another time we wanted a fire. So when the woman came in, I shivered,
and made believe that I was very cold, and then I went to the fireplace,
and made believe warm myself. Then I pointed to the fireplace, and made
a sign for her to go away and bring the fire to put there. But instead
of going, she told me something in Dutch, and shook her head; and when I
said I could not understand it, she told me over again; and finally she
went away, and sent the landlady. The landlady could speak a little
English. So she told me that we could not have any fire except in foot
stoves, for the fireplace stoves were not put up.

[Illustration: THE BOAT FAMILY.]

"It is very curious to walk about the streets, and see the boats on the
canals, and what the people are carrying back and forth in them. I watch
them sometimes from the windows of the hotel, especially when it rains,
and we cannot go out. They have every thing in these boats. They use
some of them instead of houses; and the man who owns them lives in them
with his wife and children, and sometimes with his ducks and chickens.

"I often see the little children playing on the decks of the boat. Once