At night Santa Claus rides on the roofs of the houses, and drops nice things down the chimneys for good children.  And the boys and girls leave their shoes near the fireplace for the things to drop in.

But they do not find many toys in their shoes, for Santa likes better to give them cakes and money.  The Dutch boys and girls have not many toys, but they play for hours with their shoes.  They use them for boats, baskets, dishes, or beds for their dolls.

They have fine schools in Holland, and the boys and girls go to school and learn the same things that we learn in our schools.

Some Dutch girls go to market to sell milk or cheese.  They have donkeys to carry the milk or cheese.  Sometimes, the girls ride on the donkeys’ backs.

Some Dutch girls also go to market to sell fruit.  They carry the fruit on a pole across the back of their shoulders.  A basket of fruit hangs from each end of the pole, as you see in the picture.  The boys sell milk.  They carry it about in little wagons drawn by dogs.  They are very kind to the dogs.  They do not make them draw too heavy a load.

[Illustration:  A Dutch Milkmaid.]

When a baby is born in Holland, some one hangs a silk ball outside the door.  If the baby is a boy, they hang up a red ball; and if it is a girl, they hang up a pink ball.  Is not this a good way to let their friends know they have a new baby?

PATAGONIA.

Have you ever seen a man with pictures on his body?  Perhaps you have seen a sailor with a picture of a ship on his arm.  In Patagonia nearly all the men and boys have pictures on their bodies.  Patagonia is in the southern part of the world.  It is winter in that country when it is summer here, and summer there when it is winter here.

Patagonia is a very flat country.  There are very few hills and no large trees or fine flowers there.  But there is plenty of good grass, which sometimes grows very tall.

The people in Patagonia are Indians.  They have red-brown skin, long black hair, and small eyes.  The men are very tall.  Some of them are seven feet high.  They paint their faces red and black, and tattoo their arms.  They do this with a needle.  They put the needle into dye, and then prick the skin with it.

The men wear a piece of cloth around their waists and a large cloak of fur.  They sometimes wear boots made of the skin of horses’ legs.  The women wear gowns fastened at the neck with a pin.  They also have cloaks like the men.

[Illustration:  Patagonians at Home.]

The boys and girls wear no clothes until they are four years old.  After they are four years old they wear the same kind of clothes their fathers and mothers wear.  The young girls wear their hair in braids.  If their hair is not long enough, they make it longer by tying horsehair to it.

The houses in Patagonia are tents made of skins.  There are rooms in the tents, and each grown-up person has a room.  The fire is made inside the tent on the floor.