signed HELEN BRADLEY (lower right) and inscribed 'On the morning of my tenth birthday, the postman/came with a big box for me, "whatever can it be" -/"it's come from Holland". I was in such a hurry/to open it I said, "Let us cut the string", but "no" said/Mother, "we never cut string", "I'll help you to undo it"/Inside was a real Dutch costume including a/pair of wooden clogs. The skirt, the pretty white/apron and the velvet bodice fit me perfectly. In/the letter my Dear Aunt Anne had included in/the parcel, she wished I was with her, staying in/a lovely old farm house, and what fun we would/have skating on the frozen canal, and when we became/very good, we would skate all the way to Haarlem/which was a Beautiful Place (sic). We will take Woof/with us - the big, black farm dog, and there he is/watching me trying to skate, and, there's George/with the little girl from the farm, and the year was/1910.' (on a label attached to the backboard)