I.

THE DAY THEY WENT FISHING

One summer morning, very early, Vrouw Vedder opened the door of her
little Dutch kitchen and stepped out.

She looked across the road which ran by the house, across the canal on
the other side, across the level green fields that lay beyond, clear to
the blue rim of the world, where the sky touches the earth. The sky was
very blue; and the great, round, shining face of the sun was just
peering over the tops of the trees, as she looked out.

Vrouw Vedder listened. The roosters in the barnyard were crowing, the
ducks in the canal were quacking, and all the little birds in the
fields were singing for joy. Vrouw Vedder hummed a slow little tune of
her own, as she went back into her kitchen.

Kit and Kat were still asleep in their little cupboard bed. She gave
them each a kiss. The Twins opened their eyes and sat up.

"O Kit and Kat," said Vrouw Vedder, "the sun is up, the birds are all
awake and singing, and Grandfather is going fishing to-day. If you will
hurry, you may go with him! He is coming at six o'clock; so pop out of
bed and get dressed. I will put some lunch for you in the yellow
basket, and you may dig worms for bait in the garden. Only be sure not
to step on the young cabbages that Father planted."

Kit and Kat bounced out of bed in a minute. Their mother helped them
put on their clothes and new wooden shoes. Then she gave them each a
bowl of bread and milk for their breakfast. They ate it sitting on the
kitchen doorstep.

This is a picture of Kit and Kat digging worms. You see they did just
as their mother said, and did not step on the young cabbages. They sat
on them, instead. But that was an accident.

Kit dug the worms, and Kat put them into a basket, with some earth in
it to make them feel at home.

When Grandfather came, he brought a large fishing-rod for himself and
two little ones for the Twins. There was a little hook on the end of
each line.

Vrouw Vedder kissed Kit and Kat good-bye.

"Mind Grandfather, and don't fall into the water," she said.

Grandfather and the Twins started off together down the long road
beside the canal.

The house where the Twins lived was right beside the canal. Their
father was a gardener, and his beautiful rows of cabbages and beets and
onions stretched in long lines across the level fields by the roadside.

Grandfather lived in a large town, a little way beyond the farm where
the Twins lived. He did not often have a