of flowers.

[Illustration: A Swiss House.]

In every village in Switzerland there is a school. The Swiss have very
good schools. The boys and girls must go to school when they are six
years old. They learn all that we learn in our schools. There are
also schools where the boys are taught trades. The boys and girls go
to school only eight months in the year. So they have four months'
vacation.

After school, the boys help to take care of the sheep and goats and
cattle. The girls help about the housework. All find plenty to do.

But the Swiss boys and girls have some time for play as well as for
work and school. They often have holidays. One of their greatest
holidays is the day that the men come home from the mountains with
their flocks. The boys and girls go out to meet them. They sing
songs. The bells ring, and flags wave. Everybody is merry and happy.

The children in Switzerland have a great many pretty toys. Some of
their toys are made to play music. The Swiss make all kinds of music
boxes.

In Switzerland, instead of a king, they have a president, as we have.
And in past times they had brave men who fought to make their country
free. One of their great men was William Tell. The Swiss love his
name as strongly as we love the name of George Washington.

[Illustration: Swiss Dog Cart.]

HOLLAND.

The people who live in Holland are called Dutch.

There are many canals in Holland. In some of the towns they have
canals instead of streets. There are bridges across the canals for
people to go from one side of the street to the other. In some of the
streets they have no sidewalks, and nothing between the houses but
canals.

[Illustration: Canals in Holland.]

In most of the houses they have no carpets. They scatter white sand on
the floor every morning. They keep their houses very clean. In their
kitchens they have open fireplaces, with fires blazing brightly. Near
the fires they have footstools made of cork. In some houses they have
fire boxes for warming their feet. They can carry these boxes wherever
they like. In cold weather they take their fire boxes to church.

Wherever you go in Holland you see windmills. When you see them far
off they look like giants with their arms stretched out. The arms are
shaped like ladders. The arms have sails on them to catch the wind.
It is the wind that makes the arms go round. With these windmills the
people pump up water, and g