Five Little Peppers Abroad

  XIII

  "THE CLEANEST PLACE IN ALL HOLLAND"

  "Oh, Polly, see the cunning little doll-houses!" exclaimed Phronsie ina little scream, flying about from Grandpapa at the head of his partyon their way up from the boat-landing, and then back to the rear of theprocession, which happened to be Polly and Jasper.

  "Hush, Phronsie, don't talk so loud; they are not doll-houses," saidPolly. "People live in them."

  "People live in them!" echoed Phronsie, standing quite still on thepaved road, that shone as if just freshly scoured.

  "Yes, yes; come along, child, the people will hear you," said Polly,seizing her hand.

  Phronsie suffered herself to be piloted along, but she stumbled morethan once over the cobbles, her eyes were so busy.

  "Take care, Phronsie," warned Polly, "you came near falling on yournose that time."

  "I'll go on the other side," said Jasper; "there, now, Phronsie, giveus your hand. Well, I don't wonder you are surprised. I never saw sucha place as this Broek is."

  "They've just washed it all up, haven't they, Jasper?" asked Polly, herbrown eyes scanning the little walks along each tiny garden theypassed. Everything shone alike.

  "They're always washing up, I believe," answered Jasper, with a laugh."I suppose they live in a pail of water, so to speak."

  "Oh, Jasper, in a pail of water!" exclaimed Phronsie, between them,poking her head out to look for such a strange and unwarrantable sightprovided by the inhabitants of Broek.

  "I mean they're always scrubbing, so they can never be separated fromtheir pails of water," said Jasper.

  "It seems almost too bad to step on such clean roads," said Polly,getting up on her tiptoes, and stepping gingerly off. When Phronsie sawPolly do that, she got up on her tiptoes too, and tried to get over theground with her.

  "You can't do that long," said Jasper, with a laugh for both, "and itwouldn't do any good, Polly, if you could, for these Broek women willhave to come out and scrub up after us all the same."

  "I suppose they will," said Polly, with a sigh of relief, coming downon to the rest of her feet, which proceeding, Phronsie was very glad tocopy. "And it isn't as nice as it looks to walk on the tips of yourtoes. Jasper, do see those cunning little windows and those chinaimages inside!"

  "It seems as if they were all windows," said Jasper, scanning the tinypanes shining at them from all the cottages. "Dear me, the Broek womenhave something to do, don't they, to keep everything so shiny andclean?"

  "Haven't they!" cried Polly. "Well, I don't wonder it is the cleanestplace in all Holland. They must have to sit up all night and wash andscrub."

  "It's the cleanest place on the whole earth, I imagine," laughed Jasper.

  "But I should love to see some boys playing with mud pies," sighedPolly, running her glance up and down the immaculate road, andcompassing all the tiny gardens possible to her range of vision.

  "Mud pies!" exclaimed Jasper, in mock surprise. "Polly, how can youmention such a thing as dirt or mud here!"

  "Jasper, do you suppose the children can have a good time here?"pursued Polly, anxiously, willing to give up the mud pies, if onlyreassured on the latter point, which seemed to her a very doubtful one.

  "We'll hope so," answered Jasper. "See the klompen outside that door,Polly. Well, here we are at the dairy, Polly."

  "And can I see the cows?" cried Phronsie. "Oh, Grandpapa is callingme," and off she ran.

  And so he was calling her, as he and the parson had now reached thedairy door, under cover with the dwelling, which seemed much less anobject of painstaking care than the house where the cows resided andthe cheeses were made.

  But everything was as neat as a pin in the house, though, and Polly andJasper concluded they would explore the two rooms, as everybody seemedto be expected to do, after the main object of the visit wasaccomplished and the dairy inspected.

  "Dear me, do they have to take their shoes off before they go in thehouse?" cried Polly.

  "I suppose so," said Jasper. "Well, it isn't much trouble to get out ofthose sabots, that's one comfort for them."

  "Dear me," Mrs. Fisher was saying, "if they haven't a carpet on thefloor for the cows to walk on!" And there, surely, were strips ofcarpeting all down the walks between the rows of stalls, and somethingthat looked like braided hemp in the bottom of the stalls themselves.And everything was tiled where it could be, with little tiles, and allthese and every bit of the woodwork itself shone beautifully--it was soclean and polished.

  Mrs. Fisher's black eyes shone, too. "It's beautiful," she said to herhusband, "to see everything so clean for once in the world."

  "What are those hooks for?" asked Jasper of the stolid Dutchman, whoshowed them about, and who spoke English fairly well.

  "We hook the cows' tails up so they won't shake any dirt on theirsides," said the Dutchman.

  "O dear me!" exclaimed Polly Pepper, and everybody laughed--but shedidn't.

  "I think that is cruel," she said. "What do the poor things do to beatoff the flies, pray tell?"

  "Flies?" said Mother Fisher. "I don't suppose they ever see a fly here,Polly."

  "They'd chase one worse than the dirt, I guess," said the little doctor.

  "Oh," said Polly, with a sigh of relief.

  "Come, Polly, let us go into the cheese room," suggested Jasper,peering in, for everything was connected and under one roof. "There's aman in there, and he is telling something;" so they skipped in, whilePhronsie was bewailing that there were no cows there, and where werethey?

  "Why, Phronsie, they are all out in the fields. You wouldn't have themshut up this hot day," said Grandpapa.

  "No," said Phronsie, swallowing the lump in her throat, "I wouldn't,Grandpapa; I'd much rather know they are having a nice time. I don'twant them in here, I truly don't."

  "That's a nice child," said old Mr. King, approvingly. "Well, now,we'll see how they make these wonderful Edam cheeses, Phronsie."

  "I shall call this place the Cheesery," announced Polly, running aboutbetween the vats and the big press.

  "Oh, Polly, that's a capital name," said Jasper. "So shall I call itthe 'Cheesery' in my journal. Look at the rows and rows of them, Polly."

  "And how round and yellow they are," said Polly; "just like pumpkins,aren't they? Wouldn't it be fine if we could take some home, to send toBadgertown? Dear Mrs. Beebe is so fond of cheese, Jasper."

  "It is a pity; but we couldn't take cheeses very well. Fancy ourtrunks, Polly!" He wrinkled up his face; at sight of it Polly laughedmerrily.

  "No, of course not," she said; "but oh, how fine they look!"

  "Grandpapa, I'd like to buy one," said Phronsie, overhearing a bit ofthis, and opening her little bag that hung on her arm, to get her purse.

  "What in the world can you do with a Dutch cheese, child?" exclaimedold Mr. King.

  "But I would like to buy one," persisted Phronsie. And after muchdiving Phronsie produced the little silk purse--"Polly wants one,Grandpapa," she got up on her tiptoes to whisper confidentially.

  "Oh, is that it?" said Mr. King. "Well, now, Phronsie, I don't reallybelieve Polly wants one. You would better ask her. If she wants one youshall buy it for her."

  So Phronsie ran off. "Do you, Polly? Do you?" then she gently pulledPolly's sleeve to make her hear, for Polly and Jasper were hanging onthe description that the man in attendance was pouring forth.

  "Do I what?" cried Polly, only half understanding, and lost in thethought of how much fun it must be to make little yellow cheeses, andset them up in rows to be taken to market.

  "--want one of those dear sweet little cheeses?" finished Phronsie.

  "Yes, indeed," answered Polly, bobbing her head, and listening to theman with all her might.

  "Yes, she does, Grandpapa," declared Phronsie, flying back, "she toldme so her very own self."

  "The goodness, she does!" exclaimed old Mr. King, "Well then, she shallhave one. But pick out a small one, Phronsie, the very smallest you canfind."

  This was so
much a work of time, Phronsie laying aside one selectionafter another, each yellow cheese looking so much better on comparison,that at last old Mr. King was almost in despair, and counselled thepurchase of the last one that Phronsie set her eyes on. But meantimeshe had spied one on the upper shelf of all.

  "There it is, Grandpapa," she cried, clapping her hands in delight,"the very littlest of all, and isn't it beautiful, Grandpapa, dear?"

  "Indeed it is," assented Grandpapa, and he had the man lift it down anddo it up; a piece of a Dutch newspaper again doing duty, when Phronsieheld out her arms to receive it. "You can't carry it, child; give it tome. What in the world shall we do with the thing?" all this Grandpapawas uttering in one breath.

  "Oh, Grandpapa, dear, I do so want to carry Polly's little yellowcheese," said Phronsie, the tears beginning to come in her eyes.

  Grandpapa, who had taken the round parcel from her arms, looked from itto her with increasing perplexity. "Have the goodness to put a stringaround it, will you?" he said to the man who was regarding himstolidly, after satisfying himself that the coin Phronsie had drawn outof her purse and put in his hand was a good one.

  "Yah, yah," said the man, and he brought out of one of his pockets along piece of thick twine. This with much hard breathing accompanyingthe work, he proceeded to twist and interlace around the papercontaining the little yellow cheese in such a way that when it wascompleted, Phronsie was carrying what looked like a little net basket,for there was a good strong twine handle sticking up, into which sheput her small hand in great satisfaction.

  When they all gathered in the living room of the house that had opendoors into the cow-house and dairy, all being under one roof, theyfound a huge pile of photographs displayed of various views of thepremises indoors and out.

  "But they aren't half as nice as ours will be," whispered Jasper; "howmany did you take, Polly?"

  "Three," said Polly.

  "Oh, Polly, didn't you get more than that?" said Jasper, quitedisappointed for her, for Polly dearly loved to take photographs. "Oh,you've let Adela Gray take your kodak," he added; "it's a shame Ididn't give you mine. Take it now, Polly," he begged, slinging off theleather strap from his shoulder.

  "No, no," said Polly, "I don't want to, Jasper, and I wanted Adela totake it, and don't let her hear us, she may come back from the otherroom;"--for Adela had disappeared with the kodak; "and it's all right,Jasper," she finished up incoherently.

  "Aren't these queer beds, Mrs. Fisher?" the parson's wife was saying,peering into the shelves against the side of the wall, boarded up, withdoors swung open inviting inspection.

  "The idea of sleeping in one of them!" exclaimed Mrs. Fisher,inspecting the interior with a sharp eye. "They're clean enough and asneat as a pink"--with a critical glance along the white lace spread andthe immaculate pillow--"but to be shut up in a box like that. I shouldas soon go to bed in a bureau drawer."

  "So should I," laughed the parson's wife; "and look at the artificialflowers hanging up over the head, and that picture pinned, above thefoot. Well, well, well, and so that is a Dutch bed!"

  "There are a good many kinds and sorts of Dutch beds, I suppose,"observed Mrs. Fisher, turning away, "just as there are a good manyAmerican ones; but I hope there aren't many of this particular kind."

  "Jasper," exclaimed Polly, as they all filed decorously out of the"Model Farm," "how I do wish you and I could race down to theboat-landing!"

  Jasper looked longingly down the washed and shining road. "So do I,Polly," he said, "but I suppose it wouldn't do; we should shock thesenatives."

  "I suppose so," assented Polly, ruefully. Just then Phronsie came upholding with both hands her paper-covered, twine-netted little roundyellow cheese.

  "What in the world has Phronsie got!" exclaimed Polly, catching sightof her. "Come here, Pet," she called.

  Phronsie hesitated. On Polly's calling her again she drew near, butmore slowly than was her wont.

  "What have you got, Phronsie?" asked Polly, wondering and not a littlehurt by her manner. "A little basket of string; isn't it funny, andwhere did you get it?"

  "It isn't a basket," corrected Phronsie, "and I cannot tell you now,Polly," said Phronsie, shaking her head.

  "Why, Phronsie," began Polly in surprise; and she couldn't help it, hervoice quavered in spite of her.

  When Phronsie heard that, she was equally distressed, and at oncedecided to present the gift then instead of carrying it back to thehotel for Polly as she had at first intended. So she cast her burdeninto Polly's hands and piped out, "It's for you, Polly, a sweet littleyellow cheese; you said you wanted it," and stood smiling andtriumphant.

  "Oh, my goodness me!" exclaimed Polly Pepper, standing quite still.Then she did shock the natives, for she sat right down in the road,with the cheese in her hands.