APA, what is that funny-looking house, with that great whirligig going round and round on it?" said Charlie to his father, pointing to this picture.
"That is a windmill," his father answered. "I don't wonder you call those long arms a whirligig, for they whirl round very swiftly when the wind blows.
"But they do not go round and round for nothing, as your toy whirligigs do. They are busy at work, turning a great wheel inside the mill; and the wheel is busy grinding corn into meal.
"There are not many windmills to be seen in our country; but if you should go to Holland, you would see them in all directions. Holland is a very flat country and has no swift rivers to turn the mill-wheels, so the wind has to do the work instead.
"There are said to be ten thousand windmills there. The arms of some are a hundred feet long."
"I should like to see them," said Charlie. "Will you not take me there sometime, papa?"
"Perhaps," said his father, "but you are a small boy yet, and have much to see and learn at home first."
ALFRED STETSON.
