Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.]

Our Little Dutch Cousin

THE

Little Cousin Series

(TRADE MARK)

Each volume illustrated with six or more full-page plates in
tint. Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover,
per volume, 60 cents

LIST OF TITLES

BY MARY HAZELTON WADE

(unless otherwise indicated)

=Our Little African Cousin=
=Our Little Alaskan Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Arabian Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Armenian Cousin=
=Our Little Australian Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Brazilian Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Brown Cousin=
=Our Little Canadian Cousin=
By Elizabeth R. MacDonald
=Our Little Chinese Cousin=
By Isaac Taylor Headland
=Our Little Cuban Cousin=
=Our Little Dutch Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Egyptian Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little English Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Eskimo Cousin=
=Our Little French Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little German Cousin=
=Our Little Greek Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=
=Our Little Hindu Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Indian Cousin=
=Our Little Irish Cousin=
=Our Little Italian Cousin=
=Our Little Japanese Cousin=
=Our Little Jewish Cousin=
=Our Little Korean Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike
=Our Little Mexican Cousin=
By Edward C. Butler
=Our Little Norwegian Cousin=
=Our Little Panama Cousin=
By H. Lee M. Pike
=Our Little Philippine Cousin=
=Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=
=Our Little Russian Cousin=
=Our Little Scotch Cousin=
By Blanche McManus
=Our Little Siamese Cousin=
=Our Little Spanish Cousin=
By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet
=Our Little Swedish Cousin=
By Claire M. Coburn
=Our Little Swiss Cousin=
=Our Little Turkish Cousin=

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass.

Our Little Dutch Cousin

By

Blanche McManus

Author of "Our Little English Cousin," "Our Little
French Cousin," "Our Little Scotch Cousin," etc.

_Illustrated by_
The Author

Boston
L. C. Page & Company
_PUBLISHERS_

_Copyright, 1906_
BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)

_All rights reserved_

THE LITTLE COUSIN SERIES
(_Trade Mark_)

Fifth Impression, July, 1909

Preface

OUR little Dutch cousins have much in common with little American cousins, not so much perhaps with respect to present-day institutions and manners and customs, as with the survivals and traditions of other days, when the Dutch played so important a part in the founding of the new America.

It was from Holland, too, from the little port of Delfshaven, that the Pilgrim Fathers first set sail for the New World, and by this fact alone Holland and America are bound together by another very strong link, though this time it was of English forging.

No European country, save England, has the interest for the American reader or traveller that has "the little land of dikes and windmills," and there are many young Americans already familiar with the ways of their cousins from over the seas from the very fact that so many of them come to Holland to visit its fine picture-galleries, its famous and historic buildings, its tulip-gardens, and its picturesque streets and canals, which make it a paradise for artists.

Our little Dutch cousins mingle gladly with their little American cousins, and the ties that bind make a bond which is, and always has been, inseverable.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE
I. PIETER AND WILHELMINA 1
II. THE AMERICAN COUSIN 23
III. THE LAND OF DIKES AND WINDMILLS 34
IV. THE KERMIS 53
V. THE BICYCLE RIDE 63
VI. WHERE THE CHEESES COME FROM 81

List of Illustrations

PAGE
PIETER AND WILHELMINA _Frontispiece_
"'HOW OLD IS COUSIN THEODORE, MOTHER?' ASKED WILHELMINA" 27
"'I'M GOING TO SNAP-SHOT ONE OF THEM WITH MY CAMERA'" 48
AT THE KERMIS 61
ON THE ROAD TO DELFSHAVEN 66
"THE CHILDREN STOOD IN THE BOWS" 98

showing places mentioned in

Our Little Dutch Cousin_]

Our Little Dutch Cousin