Many years ago, there lived in Haarlem, one of the principal cities in Holland, a sunny-haired girl with a gentle disposition. Her father was a sluicer, a very important position. It was his job to open and close the sluice gates as then need arises. It is also a very hard job, for water pressure must be maintained at all time. Should one sluice gate break, the angry waters of the sea would overwhelm further sluice gates and overflow the dikes. As most of Holland is below sea level, such an event would be catastrophic.
