Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge

In fact, more wonderful, for every day increases the marvel of its not being washed away by the sea. Holland is as wonderful today as it was when, more than twenty years ago, Hans and Gretel skated on the frozen Y. You will be coming, one by one, as years go on, to see the whole thing for yourselves. There is one comfort, however, in going through these wonderful Holland towns without you–it would be dreadful to have any of the party tumble into the canals and then these lumbering Dutch wagons, with their heavy wheels, so very far apart what should I do if a few dozen of you were to fall under THEM? And, perhaps, one of the wildest of my boys might harm a stork, and then all Holland would be against us! No.

Ah, it would be pleasant, indeed! But here I sit in a great hotel looking out upon all these things, knowing quite well that not even the spirit of the Dutch, which seems able to accomplish anything, can bring you at this moment across the moment. If you all could be here with me today, what fine times we might have walking through this beautiful Dutch city! How we should stare at the crooked houses, standing with their gable ends to the street at the little slanting mirrors fastened outside of the windows at the wooden shoes and dogcarts nearby the windmills in the distance at the great warehouses at the canals, doing the double duty of streets and rivers, and at the singular mingling of trees and masts to be seen in every direction. Should it cause even one heart to feel a deeper trust in God’s goodness and love, or aid any in weaving a life, wherein, through knots and entanglements, the golden thread shall never be tarnished or broken, the prayer with which it was begun and ended will have been answered. Should this simple narrative serve to give my young readers a just idea of Holland and its resources, or present true pictures of its inhabitants and their every-day life, or free them from certain current prejudices concerning that noble and enterprising people, the leading desire in writing it will have been satisfied.

While acknowledging my obligations to many well-known writers on Dutch history, literature, and art, I turn with especial gratitude to those kind Holland friends who, with generous zeal, have taken many a backward glance at their country for my sake, seeing it as it looked twenty years ago, when the Brinker home stood unnoticed in sunlight and shadow.

Many of its incidents are drawn from life, and the story of Raff Brinker is founded strictly upon fact. Throughout its pages the descriptions of Dutch localities, customs, and general characteristics have been given with scrupulous care. This little work aims to combine the instructive features of a book of travels with the interest of a domestic tale.

Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge