The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-02-08

I THE DUPLEX BABIES

%NA%>~><>~>->->~
The twins had been a source of Joy and
speculation for three or four weeks to
Mrs. Branhild and her husband-te Mrs.
Branhild especially, for anything In the
shape Of q baby aroused the deepest
sympathies of her nature, perhaps be-
cause she had never had one Of her own.
Nevertheless, there was no infantile dis
order for which the little woman did not
have a sovereign remedy, and her diagnO-
ses were unerring. She could talk the
language that babies understand with Q
fiuency and expression that mothers OF
six might have envied, and the most OBJ
streperous little brats that ever murder
ed midnight sleep would, under her gen.
tie ministrations, become simply cheru-
| bic.
Mr.. Branhild was interested In the
twins simply because they would have In
terested anybody. As they were wheeled
past the Branhild cottage, one at each
end Of their basket carriage, looking a.
fresh, plump and enticing as two pink
cherries on a stalk, the most chronic
misanthrope would have felt an impulse
to arrest their progress until he should
have pinched their soft, round cheeks
and coaIed the dimpled fingers into cling
ing touch of his. They were dark eyed
twins, with quite a profusion Of soft
brown hair, considering their age, and
the girlish looking woman who wheeled
them had the same eyes and hair. They
always passed at about the same hour
in the afternoon, and they never came
back the same way.
Il wish l knew who she wars" said
Mrs. Branhild to her husband one even
ing. "She looks so dignifed I'm afraid to
speak to her, but must hold those dear
little things IL l have to put a tollgate
across the sidewalk. Aren't they dear,
Fred?"
''They're mighty cunning babies" said
Mr.. Branhold. 81 suppose she takes
them for an airing in the park and goes
home around the block. Why do you
want to know who she ISL"
Naturally l want to know everything
about her. l want to know their names
and what she feeds them and how old
they are and whether their father doesn't
worship them-but of course he does. I
never saw two such sweet little girls In
all my life"
How do you know they are not boys?"
Mrs. Branhild looked at him scornfully,
but vouchsafed no other reply.
Then why don't you ask her and find
out?"
II did bow one afternoon, but she look.
ed up so coldly and bowed to me in such
a freezing manner that / haven't had
the courage to try it again. / suppose
all sorts Of people are everlastingly stop
ping her to ask about them, and she 10
| tired Of it. Perhaps l would be, too, and
| yet Mrs. Branhild sighed.
1T would tickle you to death, and you
know it would. Here they come back
now the same way, but she's traded car
riages or something"
"She has. hasn't she7 But that isn't
the woman-surely not There's the
twins, though. Why, Fred, those are not
the twins-it's another setw
| 1t was another set and another young
mother, and the eyes of these twins were
blue. their hair faxen-what there was
Of it-and their gender masculine.
ibid you ever hear of anything like
that7" said Mrs. Branhild.
why, l suppose there IL more than
one pair of twins In Chicago" said Mr..
Branhild.
But the remarkable thing was that
from that day the blue eyed babies were
driven daily past the Branhild cottage
as regularly as the brown eyed pair, and
little Mrs. Branhild was at loss which
of the two to admire most. The blue
eyed ones passed at about 8 o'clock and
the brown eyed ones half an hour later.
"Now. should say there was a special
| Providence in this thing IL 1t wasn't for
that half hour of difference" said Mrs.
Branhild, musing. with q prospective
eye. 81 wonder whether they don't pass
somewhere. l suppose not, though. They
probably miss each other by about O
minute. That's the way 1t is in this life;
we miss things" She sighed a little sigh
and thereby attracted the wandering at
tention of Mr.. Branhild, who patted her
hand and said, I'm glad that ! didn't
miss you, my dear"
| But Mrs. Branhild's estimate Of the
ways Of Providence was not well based
after all, for about two weeks ago Mr..
Branhild. looking up the street, and Mrs.
Branhild. looking down the street, both
simultaneously exclaimed, "Here coma
the twins"
And, sure enough, this time the blue
eyed and the brown eyed were approach
ing from opposite directions and would
soon meet. Mr.. Branhild carefully meas
ured the distances with his eye and then
turned to his wife and said, 81 believe
they will hit just about here"
The little woman made no reply. She
was too absorbed in her own calculations,
but in a moment she said In her turn:
"I'll just bet you that they meet right
In front here. wonder II they will
stopv'
How could they help It? As the Bran
hilds had predicted, the two mothers,
with their duplex offspring, met in front
Of the cottage and no introduction was
| necessary.
Mother of the brown eyed and mother
Of the blue eyed: why. if you haven't
got dear little twins"
They smiled divnely, pushed their car
riages alongside of each other and began
to have rapturcs. Mrs. Branhild leaned
forward from her step eagerly, her eyes
| shining. Then, moved by an irresistible
| impulse, she fluttered down, and a min
ute later, with one sample of each family
in one ARM she called to Fred to come
down to look.
And a little after that all four Of the
babies were kicking their fat little legs
on a shawl spread on the neat little
Branhild lawn, and It turned out that
| after all there was nothing naughty
about the mother Of the brown eyed ba-
bies any more than there was about the
mother of the blp> eyed babies, or about
| little Mrs Branhild herself, for that mat
Ter.
The shawl on the avn is now almost a
regular afternoon institution. You can
see it any time you may happen to 60
down the street, with the two mothers
and Mrs. Branhld in attitudes of adora-
ton at the edges. while Uncle Fred
smokes his pipe on the porch and looks
benevolently down on them. 1t is really
one of the sights of the city, II you are
only lucky enough to find it.-Chicago
Record.
If brass or copper. after cleaning, is
rubbed with old, soft newspapers, 1t will
look much brighter and keep clean much
longer.
Three-odd 1cpltapns.
An English journal has discovered
these curious epitaphs. taken from some
old tombstones: