f it. Then she hung a large pail on one of the hooks, and a
brass milk can on the other. She gave Kat a little pail to carry, and
Kit took some switches from the willow tree in the yard, with which to
drive away the flies. Then they all three started down the road to the
pasture.

Pretty soon they came to a little bridge over the canal, which they had
to cross.

"Oh, dear," said Kat, looking down at the water, "I'm scared!" You see,
there was no railing at all to take hold of, and the bridge was quite
narrow.

"Ho! 'Fraidy cat!" said Kit. "I'll go first and show you how."

"And I'll walk behind you," said Vrouw Vedder.

Kat walked very slowly and held on hard to her pail, and so she got
over the bridge safely.

"When I'm four feet and a half high, I'm going to jump over the canal
on a jumping pole," said Kit.

"O how brave you are!" said Kat. "I should be scared. And besides I'm
afraid I should drop my shoes in the water."

"Well, of course," said Kit, "boys can do a great many things that
girls can't do."

When they reached the pasture, there was Mevrouw Holstein waiting for
them. Mevrouw Holstein was the cow's name. Kit and Kat named her.

Vrouw Vedder tucked up her skirts--and that was quite a task, for she
wore a great many of them--and sat down on a little stool. Kit and Kat
stood beside her and waved their willow wands and said "Shoo!" to the
flies; and Vrouw Vedder began to milk.

Mevrouw Holstein had eaten so much of the green meadow grass that Vrouw
Vedder filled both the big pail and the brass can, and the little pail
too, with rich milk.

"I shall have milk enough to make butter and cheese," said Vrouw
Vedder. "There are no cows like our Dutch cows in all the world, I
believe."

"O Mother, are you going to churn to-day?" asked Kat.

"Yes," said the Vrouw, "I have cream enough at home to make a good roll
of butter, and you may help me if you will be very careful and work
steadily."

"I will be very steady," said Kat. "I'm big enough now to learn."

"All Dutch girls must know how to make good butter and cheese," said
Vrouw Vedder.

"And boys can drink the buttermilk," said Kit.

"I'll drink some too," said Kat.

"There'll be plenty for both," said their mother.

When she had finished milking, Vrouw Vedder shook out her skirts, put
the yoke across her shoulders again and lifted the large pail of milk.
She hung it on one of the hook and the brass milk can on the other. Kat
took the sma