It was not necessary for Charlotte to remind these little girls of the cousins who lived in the city of New York, in the far-off land of America.  For the last month little else had been talked of in the Van Schaick mansion besides the expected visit of the Chester family.  Mrs. Van Schaick and Mrs. Chester were sisters, and this was but the second visit the latter had paid her old Holland home since her marriage.  On the first visit her children were not with her; but now Mr. Chester was coming, and the two boys.  Many were the wild speculations the girls indulged in with regard to Americans,—­what they would look like, and what they would say and do.

Great, then, was their surprise, when the travelers arrived, to find that their aunt Chester was very like their mother in appearance and dress.  Mr. Chester did not in the least resemble their father, but he was not unlike many other men they had seen, and he did not dress in wild-beast skins.  As for the boys, Greta poured her tale of woe into the ears of the sympathizing Charlotte.  “They are just like English boys!” she said, contemptuously.  Greta had often seen English boys, and there was nothing uncommon about them.

This was soon forgotten, however, when Greta discovered what pleasant companions the boys were, and that they could put the Dutch words together almost as correctly as Greta herself.  Will Chester, who had reached the dignified age of thirteen, had felt much troubled at the thought that he would have “only girls” to play with at Zaandam, especially as Greta was a year younger than himself.  But when the two girls, instead of bringing forward their dolls and tea-sets with which to entertain their visitors, produced from their treasures two good-sized toy canal-boats, fully equipped with everything a canal-boat needed, he admitted to himself that girls who liked to sail boats might be good for something.

Secretly, however, he thought that a canal-boat was a poor kind of vessel to have, and wished his cousins owned such beautiful ships as he and Martin had; for among the last things bought before leaving New York were two little sailing-vessels—­the “America” and the “Columbus.”  Mr. Chester said Holland was full of water, and these were proper toys to take there.

The two canal-boats, being precisely alike, were distinguished from each other only by their names.  Greta’s had “Wilhelmina” painted on the side in black letters, while Minchen’s had “Gouda” in red letters.  They were similar to American canal-boats in shape, and of a dark red-brown color.  Will thought them stumpy and heavy-looking; and he did not admire the red sails with crooked gaffs, and smiled at the blue pennants, stretched out on stiff frames that turned with the wind.  But when Greta showed him a tiny windlass on the deck, by means of which she easily raised and lowered the mast, he came to the conclusion that a Dutch canal-boat was not to be despised.

“I do this when we pass under bridges,” she explained.