Rollo wished very much to see all these things—but there was one question which it puzzled him very much to decide, and that was whether he would rather go to Holland in the summer or in the winter.
"I am not certain," said he to his mother one day, "whether it would not be better for me to go in the winter."
"It is very cold there in the winter," said his mother; "so I am told."
"That is the very thing," said Rollo. "They have such excellent skating on the canals. I want to see the boats go on the canals, and I want to see the skating, and I don't know which I want to see most."
"Yes," said his mother, "I recollect to have often seen pictures of skating on the Dutch canals."
"And I read, when I was a boy," continued Rollo, "that the women skate to market in Holland."
Rollo here observed that his mother was endeavoring to suppress a smile. She seemed to try very hard, but she could not succeed in keeping perfectly sober.
"What are you laughing at, mother?" asked Rollo.
Here Mrs. Holiday could no longer restrain herself, but laughed outright.
"Is it about the Dutch women skating to market?" asked Rollo.