The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-06-16
THE CASE OF THE DOW
TWINS.

$1,000 ~SA
TWINS.
"My notions about 1ouIs influence Oh
soul" said DIR. Richards of Saturday
Cove to me one day last September
are a little peculiar. I don't make 8
practice of giving 'em away to the folks
around here. The Cove people hold
that when a doctor gets beyond jalaT
and rhubarb he's t~respassing on the par
sons property. Now it's a long road
from jalap to soul, but don't see why
one man mightn't travel as well as an
other. Will you oblige me with 6
clam ?"
obliged him with a clam. We were
sitting together on the rocks, fishing fol
tomcod. Saturday Cove is a small water
ing place a few miles below Belfast, OF
the west shore of Penobscot bay. It ap
parently derives it's name from a belief
generally entertained by the Covers, thai
this spot was the final and browning
achievement of the Creator before resting
on the seventh day. The Cove yillag.
consists of a hotel, two churches, severa
stores, and a graveyard containing former
generations of Saturdarians. 1t is
favorite gibe among outsid 9rs, who envy
the placid quiet of the place, that If the
population of the graveyard should bt
dug up and distributed through the
village, and the present inhabitants laid
away beneath the sod, there would be
no ~rerceptible diminution in the liveli
ness of the settlement. The Cove proper
abounds with tomcod, which may be
caught with CLAIMS.
eyes" continued DIR. Richards, as he
forced the barb of his jig hook into the
tender organism Ofthe clam, my theory
Lis that a strong soul may crowd a weak
s~oaa9dGv~0r The body which belongs to
the weak soul and operate throtfgh that
body, even though miles away and in
Voluntarily. Issbelieve, moreover, that
a man may have two souls, n his own
by right and the other an intruder. In
fact, I know that this is so, and it being
SO, what becomes of your moral respon-
sibility ? What, / ask, becomes of your
moral responsibility p
"Your doctrine of moral response
bility," said the doctor sternly, as if it
were my doctrine and l were responsible
for moral responsibility, .'isn't worth
this tomood," and he took a small fish of
his hook and CONTEMPORARY tossed it
back into the cove. did you ever hear
of the case of the Dow twiLsg'
7 had never heard of the case of the
Dow twins.
"Well," resumed the DOCTOR. "they
were born intoethe family of Hiram Dow,
thirty years or more ago, in the red farm
house just over the hill back of us. NY
predecessor, old DR.. Gookin, osuperin-
tended their birth, and has often told me
the circumstances. The Dow twinscame
into the world bound back to back by a
feshy ligature which extended half the
length of the spinal processes. They
would probably have travelled through
life in intimate juxtaposition had the
matter depended on your great city sur
~geons-your surgeons who were afraid to
disconnect Chang and Eng, and who dis
cussed the operation till the poor fellows
died without parting company. Old DIR.
Gookin, however, who hadn't attempted
ANYTHING for wears in the surgical line,
more than to pull q tooth or to cut out
an occasional wen, calmly went to work
and sharpened up his rusty old operating
knife and slashed and gashed the twins
apart before they had been three hours
bseathing. This promptitude of Cook
saved the Dow twins a good deal Of
inconvenience"
/ should think sol"
/" And yet" added the doctor refec-
perhaps it might have been
for 'em both if they hadn't been
separated. Better for Jehiel, especially
he wouldn't have been put in a
position. Then, on the other hand.
my theory would have lacked the CON
Of an illustrative example. Do
you want the atory2''
/" By all means"
/" We'll, Jacob and Jehiel grew up
healthy, strapping boys, like as two peas
physically, but otherwise very unlike.
Iehiel was all Dow-slow. siow-witted,
melancholy inclined and disposed to re-
spect the ten commandments. Jake.
had his mothers git-up-and-git-she was
Fox Of Fox island-and was into mis-
chief from the time he was tall enough
10 poke burdock burrs down his grand
mothers back. Or. Gookin watched the
development of the twins with great in
terest. He used to say that there was
IN invisible nerve biography between
Jake and Jehiel. At any rate, Jehiel
accustomed to act very queerly
EE&EZ&-EI