Litchfield enquirer., 1869-07-29
PERSONAL HABITS OF THE SIAM. sd5 st..s,.... ESE TWINS. sss.
aiS BY MARK TWAIN.

A54SsAs1S>tstAL ADAA0x f Aht1 f7AAtk4. !x sdl sb4a.!s. EsE TWINS. ''s.' xqms sYlMAIRk TWAIN .sslsa4 A.ss 5. ! slj5 -fst&3e. s,4lge. .le s6 VI ss I do not wish to write of the paxsonal
 habits of these strange creatures ssolejI <bnt also of certain curious details of sdaff0as kinds concerning them. which, bei6QRin7
 only to their private life. have neYai cfspt
 into print. Knowing the Twins int{asate Y, T feel that am peculiarly well q 1slf Fl
 for the task have taken upon myself sKsl .s The Siamese Twins -ares naaturaiIt fender
 aud affsctionate in disposition. and havs
 ciung to each other with singular ff3elity
 throughoutla long and eysntful life. .Ev>n
 as children they were inseperabie co1npal- lons; and it it was noticed that tl1Sv Fl.
 ways seemed to prefer each others 10tl6ff
 to that of any other persons. The4 mar
 iy always played together and, so accus-
 toned was their m0thssrto this pecuiiarity,
 that, whenever both aof them tchaaced sto
 be lost, she usually only hunted for ono of
 them satisfied that when she fonld tlfat
 one she. would find hls. brother somewherB
 Tn the immediate neighborhood dug And ret
 these Creatures were ignorant and unIet- tered-barbarians themselves and the, otf-
 spring of barbarians, who knew not tho
 light of philosophy and seieace. What q
 witnering Febuke s.Ithis to our boasted civilization, with it's quarrellingss is wraf-
 glngs, and its separations of brothers!
 As men. the T wins have not always lived
 In perfectlaccoFd; butt lstili,. there hak sal+ ways been. 8 bond between them Which
 made them unwilling to go away from each
 other and dwell apart They have ever oc.
 cupled the same house, as a general thing.
 and 1t IS believed they have never failed to
 even sleep together on any night sinco they
 were born. How surely do the habits of a
 lifetime become second nature to usi The
 Twins alway go to bed at the. same lime;
 but Chang usually gets up about an hour
 before his brother. By an understanding
 between themselves, Chang does all the
 indoor work and Eng runs all the errands.,
 This Is because Eng likes to go out; Chang 6
 habits are sedentary. However, Chang al-
 ways goes along. Eng is aasBaptisty but Chang is Roman Catholic; still, to please
 his brother, Chang consented to be bapti-
 zed at the same time that Eng was, on con- dition that it should not :countl Dur-I ing the war they were strong partisans, and both fought galantly all through the great struggle-Eng on the Union aide and Chang on the Confederate. They took each
 other prisoners at Seven Oaks, but the proofs of capture were so evenly baIanc9d' in favor of each that 8 general armyc0urt had to be assembled to, determina which one was properly the captor and which the captive. The jury was unable to agreo for @ long time; but the yexed question was finally decided by agreeing to consider them both prisoners, and then exchanging them: At one time Chang was cohyicted to ten days in the guard house; but Eng, in spite of all arguments, felt obliged to share his imprisonment,a notwithstanding he himself was entirely innocent; and so, to save the blameless brother from suffer ing, they had to discharge both from GUS. tody-the just reward of faithfulness. lo as
 Uponione occasion the brothers fell out about something, and Chang knocked Eng down. and then tripped and fell on him, whereupen both .clenched and began to beat and gopge each other without mercy
 The bystanders interfere and tried to sep arate them, but they could not do it, and so allowed them to fight it out. In the end both were disabled. and were carried to the hospital on one and the same shut ter. '' ''s@ ''s8 t' $ Their ancient habit of going always to- gether had it's drawbacks when they reach ed mans estate and entered upon the lux. ury of courting.. { Both fell in love with the same girl lg Each tired to steal clan destine interviews, with, her, but at the critical moment, tho other would always turn up. By-and-bye Eng saw with dis traction, that Chang had won the girls af- factions; and, from that day forth, he had to bear with the agony of being a witness to all their dainty billing and cooinga But, with .magnanimity that did him infinite credit, he succumbed to his fate, and gave and encouragement to state of things that bade fair to asunder his gen. erous heart-strings. He sat from seyen ev- cry evening until two in the morning list. ening to the fond foolishness of the two lovers, and to the concussion of hundreds of squandered kisses-for the privilege of sharing only one of which he would have given his right hand. But he sat patient ly. and waited, and gaped. and syawned. and stretched, and longed for two o'clock to come. sA And he took long walks with the lovers on moonlight evenings-sometlme traversing ten miles. notwithstanding he was usually suffering from rheumatism. He is an inveterate smoker; but he could not smoke on these occasions, because the young lady was painfully sensitive to the smell of tobaccos Eng cordially wanted them married, aand done with it; but, al- though Chang often asked the momentous question, the young lady could not gather sufficient courage to answer it while Eng '~as by. However, on Eone. occasion, after ha ving walked some sixteen miles, and sat up till nearly daylight, Eng dropped asleep from sheer exhaustion, and then the qnes-l ition was asked and answered. tThe1lovers were narrisd.wsAA acquainted with the cireunahtappces spplapded 1 the noble broth vas tie theme of every t6ngae.3 Heahaa staid by them thronghs their Iongo and Far-, duous .coprtship: and when at last they were married, ha, lifted his hands above their heads, and said with impressive une- 'tion, ssB sBlesslyssmy chi ldren, I uillsnsvsrl desertsyeY' and he kept his word. esd. a.s z ,z By-and-bye, Eng fell in love with his