The Red Cloud chief., 1877-05-17

BED CLOUD, NEBRASKA
THx CASE OF The DOW TWIN,
my notions about souls influence o.
souls" said DIR. Richards. Of Saturda
Cove, to me one day last Septembd
ARE a little peculiar. l don't make
practice Of giving 'em away to the folk
around here. The Cove people hold tina
when a doctor gets beyond jalap an'
rhubarb he's trespassing on the parson'
property. Now it's q long road hou
jalap to soul. but / don't see why on
nan mightn't travel as well a. another
Will you Oblige me with q clamY"
1 Obliged him with q clam. We wer
sitting together Of the rocks, fishing TO
tomcod. Saturday Cove is a small
watering place a few miles below Bel
fast, on the west shore Of Penobsco
Bay. 1t apparently derives its name
from a belief, generally entered by th'
Covers, that this spot was the final ant
crowning achievement Of the Creator
before resting on the seventh day
The Cove village consists of q hotel
two churches. several stores, and 9
graveyard, containing former genera
tions of Saturdarians. 1t il a ~favOritk
gibe among outsiders who envy the
placid quiet Of the place, that il the
population of the graveyard should be
dug up and distributed through the vii.
lage, and the present inhabitants laid
away beneath the sod, there would be
no ~perceptible dimunition in the liveli.
ness of the settlement. The Cove
proper abounds with tOmcOd. which
may be caught with clans.
"Yes. continued DIR. Richards. as he
forced the barb of his jig hook into the
tender organism of the clam, my theory
is that a strong soul may crowd q weak
soul out of the body which belongs to
to the weak soul and operate through
that body, even though miles away and
invOluntarily. i believe, moreover, that
man may have two souls, one his own
by right and the other an intruder. In
fact, l know that this is so, and it being
so, what becomes of your moral respon-
sibility? What, l ask, becomes of your
moral responsibility? 2"
/ replied that l could not imagine.
"YOur doctrine of moral responsible
ity," said the Doctor sternly, as if it
were my doctrine and 1 were response
BILE for moral responsibility. isn't worth
this tOmcOd," and he took q small isn
off his hook and contemporary tossed
it back into the Cove. did you ever
hear of the case of the Dow twins"
1 had never heard of the case of the
Dow twins.
"Well," resumed the Doctor, they
were born into the family of Hiram
Dow, thirty years or more ago, in the
red farm house Just over the hill back
Of us. My predecessor, old DR.. Gookin,
superintendent their birth, and has often
told me the circumstances. The Dow
twins came into the world bound back
to back by a fieshy ligature which OK
tended half the length of the spinal
processes. They would probably have
travelled through life in intimate jux-
Imposition had the matter depended on
your great city surgeons-your surgeons
who were afraid to disconnect Chang
and Eng, and who discussed the opera
ton till the poor fellows died without
parting company. Old DR.. Gookin, how
ever. who hadn't attempted anything
for years in the surgical line, more than
to pull a tooth or to cut out an occa- |
siOnal 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
breathing. This prOmptitude of Gookins
saved the Dow twins a good deal of in.
convenience
81 should think sol"
And yer" added the Doctor, reflect.
lively, perhaps it might have been bet
ter for 'em both if they hadn't been
separated. Better for Jehiel, especially,
since he wouldn't have been put in a
false position. Then, on the other hand.
my theory would have lacked the con.
irmation of an illustrative example.
Do you want the storyP"
by all means"
well. Jacob and Jehiel grew up
healthy, strapping boys, like as two
peas physically, but otherwise very un.
like, Jehiel was all DOw-slow, slow.
witted, melancholy inclined and dis
posed to respect the ten command
ments. Jake. he has his mothers git
up and-git-she was q Fox, of Fox
was into mischief from the
time he was tall enough to poke bur
dock burrs down his grandmother's
back. DR.. Gookin watched the devel-
Opment of the twins with great inter-
est. He used to say that there was an
invisible nerve telegraph between Jake
and Jehiel. At any rate Jehiel was
accustomed to act very queerly when
ever Jacob was up to any of his pranks.
One night, for instance, when Jake was
off robbing a henreost, Jehiel sat up in
bed in his sleep ard crowed like q
cock until the whole family
was aroused. II
Il came here and opened an Office
about ten years ago. At that time !
Jehiel had grown into a steady, toler.