The Hickman courier., 1877-05-25
THE CASE OF THE DOW
TWINS.

Ny notions about s0uPs influence ol
soul sAssid DIR. Richards of Saturda,
Cove terme one day last September
"ars a little peculiar, 1 don't make
practice of giving 'em away to the folks
.--Arosa1d heFes The CQxe people hold
that when doctor gets beyond jalaI
and rhubarb he's trespassing on the par
sons property. Now it's a long road
from jalap to soul, but 1 don't see why
one man mightn't travel as well as an
other. VIII you oblige me with {
clam ?"
| obliged him with a clam We were
sitting together on the rocks, fishing tol
tomcod. Saturday Cove is small water
ing place few miles below Belfast, OF
the west shore Of Penobscot bay. 1t APP
parently derives its name from a belief
generally entertained by the Covers, thai
this spot was the final and crownine
achievement of the Creator before resting
on the SEVENTH day. The Cove village
consists of hotel, two churches, several
stores, and a graveyard containing former
generations of Saturdarians. 1t is a
favorite gibe among outsid srs, who envy
the placid quiet of the place, that If the
population of the graveyard should be
dug up and distributed through the
village, and the present inhabitants laid
away beneath the sod, there would be
no Ierceptible diminution in the liveli-
ness of the settlement. The Cove proper
abounds with tomcod, which may be
caught with clans.
'sN-es," continued DIR. Richards, as he
forced the barb of his jig hook into the
tender organism ofthe clam, my theory
is that strong SOUL may crowd a weak
soul out of the body which belongs to
the weak soul and operate through that
Iody, even though miles away and in
Voluntarily. I. believe, moreover, that
Il man may have two souls, one his own
by right and the other an intruder In
fact, know that this IS so, and it being
so, what becomes of your moral respon-
sibility ? What, I ask, becomes of your
moral responsibility ?''
Your doctrine of moral response
bility," said the doctor sternly, as if it
were my doctrine and were responsible
for moral responsibility, ss'isn't worth
this tomcod, and ne took small fish off
IL hook and eontemptuously tossed it
bsck into the cove. Did you ever hear
Of the case of the Dow twiLs?'
I 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, superin-
tended their birth, and has often told me
. the circumstance. The Dow twins came
into the world bound back to back by q
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 DR..
GoOkin, however, who hadn't attempted
any thing for wears in the surgical line,
more than to pull tooth or to cut out
an occasional wen, calmly went 10 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 Cook.
ins saved the Dow twins GOOD deal of
Inconvenience"
4" should think so ~
"And yet" added the doctor rehec-
lively, perhaps it might haze been
better 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, en- the other hand,
my theory would have lacked the con-
firmation of an-illustrative example. Do
you want the story"
BY ali means
Well, jacob and Jehiel grew up
healthy, strapping boys, like as two peas
physically, but otherwise very unlike.
,Jehiel was all Dow-slow. slow-witted,
melancholy inclined and disposed to re-
spect tie ten commandments. Jake.
had his mothers git-up-and-git-sh was
Fox OF Fox island-and was into mis-
chief from the time he was tall enough
to roke burdock burrs down his grand
mothers back. DIR. Gookin watched the
development of the twins with great in
terest. He used to say that there was
an invisible nerve telegraphy between
Jake and Jehiel. AT any rate, JehieI
was accustomed to act very queerly
whenever Jacob was up to any of his
pranks- One night, for instance, when
Jake was off robbing a hen-roost, Jehiel
rat up in bed in his sleep and crowed like
a frightened cock until the whole family
was aroused.
. came here and opened my Office
about ten years ago. AT that time Jehiel
had grown into a steady, tolerably in
dustrious young man. prominent in the
congressional church, and SO sober and
decorous that that the village people had
trusted him with the driving of the town
hearse. When first knew him he was
courtlng young woman by the name
OF Giles, who lived about seven miles
back IN the country. Jehiel was a tin
knocker by trade, and a more pious. re-
spectable, reliable tin knocker you never
saw
Jake had turned out very differently.
BY the time of Sumter he had made Sat
urday. Cove too bot 10 hold him. and
everybody, including his twin, Jehiel,
was glad when he enlisted in a Maine
regiment. / never saw Jake in my life,
Tor came here after he had departed,
but have pretty good notion of what
rec less. loud-mouthed, harum-scarum
reproDate he must have been After the
war he drifted into the western country,