The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-22
How Lucy Saved the Twins.

How Lucy Saved the Twins.
There was nobody to talk to ard nothing
to do.
1t was rainy and lonesome out of doors,
stupid and forlorn in the house.
Bored little Miss Lucy went down to the
kitchen at last and tried to make company
out of poor little Mrs. Jenkins, who was
ironing away as if her life depended
upon it.
"Why don't you stay up here and work
for my mamma al the time instead of 60
ing home to your little bit of house when
It's raining?"
That was one of the hundred or two
questions the little girl asked.
Then Mrs. Jenkins told some of the rea-
sons why she did not stay in the big, COM
Portable house, and some why she couldn' t
stay all the time in her own little home
either.
1t seems there was pair of little twin
Jenkinses down there in the small house.
and they couldn't quite support them
selves yet, even though they were almost
sick for a very long time. One or two very
wet tears trickled down Mrs. Jenkins nose
when she thought about that dreadful
sick time and how very pale poor Papa
Jenkins had looked still when he went
away to his work this morning.
who stays with those babies when you
are out workine?" asked Lucy.
is the first day in all their lives
that they have had to stay alone, and I'm
a-goin' home as soon as ever can"
Mrs. Jenkins looked both worried and
determined when she said that, and she
waved her tatiron about quite as if she be-
lieved herself able to conquer the world
with it if she only tried hard enough.
Little Miss Lucy went upstairs again,
wondering if there were not worse troubles
IN the world than not having every single
thing you wanted.
She put on her macintosh and her rub
bers quietly, and presently she peeped
into the kitchen and called out pleasantly:
Mrs. Jenkins, [ am just going to take
little run down to your house to see how
those babies are getting along. They
might want some milk or something, you
know, and they might just happen to be
lonesome"
Miss Lucy skipped along as gay as a
bird: but just as she was going to open the
Jenkins door she heard such dreadful
screams from those babies that she fairly
burst into the house.
Those twins were sitting in the cradle
where their mother had tied them, and the
bedding around them was all on fire.
Lucy didn't wait to try to cut the poor
little things loose.
She didn't stop to look for pail of water
either. She just gathered up the rugs and
pieces of carpet that were lying on the
floor and she smothered the flames with
them.
And of course, everybody knows that
the wisest and strongest man in the world
couldn't have done anything much better
than that.
Pretty soon, when the twins were out of
that cradle all right Lucy raped on the
window for boy who was passing and
sent for Mrs. Jenkins to come home.
Then Lucy heard how the babies cradle
had been LETT in the corner of the room
farthest from the fire.
They must have rocked and rocked it in
their playful fashion till it had travelled all
the way across the room.
And then a loose corner of the bedding
must have switched into the open fire, and
so the trouble began.
Wasn't that one way for pair of babies
to get themselves into a scrape? And
wasn't it lucky that Miss. Lucy happened
to obey one of the impulses of her kind
little heart? MARY CALKINs JOHNSON.