Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1901-03-07


che said, "but, oh, how alike, how
aIkel"
"Do you think SOP" returned the
mother; everyone says but for their
height no one would realize they
we're twins; but my husband was a
twin, and he and his brother, he says,
were exactly like our boys"
sand, madam, l am the mother of
twin boys, and at the age of these lit
tle ones, they were as like as two
peas"
slow strange; tell me about them,
nlease," said the sweet-faced woman,
seeing that love and sympathy were
more needed than money.
"If you wouldn't think me intrud-
ing-I never have anyone to talk to
now and sometimes my heart grows
50 full, it seems as if it must overflow
to some one"
"John and / were married the sum-
mer | was IS. John was considerably
older than l. In all the country round
he went by the name of Lucky john
and we were as happy as could be, but
for one thing-no children came to us.
The neighbors' boys and girls were
growing up about us, but in our home
the years came and went, with mover
a little child to comfort our hearts or
brighten our home.
"John never said much, but knew
how he felt; and the day my boys
camel can never forget tive had
| ;aI loJ
business that kept him in town all
dav, and when he came home old
Auntie Brown met him at the door.
"'Never min yer bosses, Lucky John:
they's suthin' in this yer house we
want yer ter pass yer Judgment on
and in came John. He gave one look
at the two tiny bundles lying in the
old wooden cradle that had held him
when he was baby, and then he took
me in his arms and cried.
well, I can't begin to tell you what
fine babies they were-how they grew
and throve, 80 strong both of them,
and smart-they couldn't be brighter.
And, as they grew older, such store
as they set by one another. John al
ways said we should have called them
Damon and Pythias; but we named
them after their two grandfather
Theodore and Thomas.
Teddy was the apple of his fathers
eye. We expected great things of
him; yet, somehow, though I loved
and did for both my boys all a mother
could do, Tommy, who was always in
| +rC111o1n wild onI rno1y1aSc
as he grew to manhood, some said
fast Though l never could believe it).
Tommy was mothers boy, and, if he
did do what wasn't exactly right
sometimes, it was because that big
heart of his ran away with him; and,
somehow, the more trouble he got in
to, the more I loved him-he seemed
to need more love.
well, neither boy took to farming.
This was disappointment to father,
| would see, though he made no COM
Saint; so in the bank, where he was
a large stakeholder, father found posi-
ions for them both, side by side, at
the same desk. Teddy, we knew,
| would do well, and Tom-well, we
we're glad the brothers were together.
Teddy would help to keep Tom steady.
was the second summer they were
there. Teddy was working very hard
(he always cared too much for money,
f, thought, though John never seemed
to see it), and Tom was doing pretty
well. There had been little trouble
once or twice. John never told me all
about it, but he had made things all
right, and Tom kept his place-when,
one nigh., some one drove up to the
door, and l heard Toms voice calling
Mother Gather was sick in bed at
the time). So I ran out to see what
was the matter; and there, with an
officer each side of him, stood Tom.
"'Mother,' he said, "a lot of money
has been taken from the bank (don't
tell father); and I am arrested for
the theft Then, reaching out his
hands to me-the irons on them-and,
oh, 1 thought my heart would break
at the sight. Mother" he cried, ''do
you believe me guilty?" and I looked
into his face, where there was only
truth and sorrow. mo, Tom, no!
/ cfleQ; DuU tell me VINO Qlu IL.
81 can't, don't ask me, don't ask"
he said, with such a look of pain on
his face as shall never forget. "Only
oelieve me innocent; and, here, mother,
is a little gold cross I got for your
birthday; keep it always, and per-
haps some day you'll know" And he
kissed me good-by. And the voice OF
the little woman broke in sob, and
the eyes of the young mother we're wet
with the quick dew of sympathy.
On the same day the prison gates
closed upon our boy the gates of Heav-
en- opened to his father, and Teddy and
were left alone in the world.
Though I grieved for Tom and
father. we lived happily and COM
fortably till the day Teddy brought
home a wife; cold, proud, ill-tem-
pered woman. She never liked me
| was too plain and oldfashioned for
her, though I gave her the reins and
tried my best to feel cheerful in being
driven first this way and then that
though sometimes it was hard for me
to tell Teddy how unhappy 1 was,
But ever since Tom went away, he
/ nd