Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-30
THEM TWO.
Copyright. 1905. by Louise R. Baker.
Written for The Star

Kathy had been peeping and listening;
she would do 1t; but her eyes were so
black and her dimples SO deep and her
broad mouth SO smiling that everybody
arrived at the age of reason, even the head
nurse. May Jane. forgaye her, and every
body. reasonable and juvenilely unreason-
able, was eager to hear what she had to
tell.
"Kathy's besn peepin' at them two that
got GU, of the carriage with the mamma"
said a little fat boy. tumbling over a thin
little boy aud several little girls as he
hastily clambered down from window.
Mamie Star quilted her small rocking
chair and left 1t rocking hard. cast her
beloved rag dolly to the winds--nothing
ever hurt the rag doiy-and rushed to the
center of attraction, Kathy in the region of
the head nurse
did she leave them two In the parlor?''
gasped Mamie Star.
Huuursh!" ordered chorus of voices.
But the words them two" claimed
hathys attention. and she turned to Nan
ME. her eyes and mouth both laughing.
Yes she said, as If at the beginning
OF new story, them two's In the parlor;
them two's come to the 'sylum to live;
them two was brought here by their aunt.
and she's gone; and them twos crying.
with tHeiT iiStS III tflelf eyes
"Oh. Kathy, they aint?',y said Tommy
Daybreak, solemnly; but the doubt was
only in Tommy's words: his voice was
very sorrowful. From the window he had
seen the two little girls and the lady enter
the asylum, and the lady go out alone.
"They's scared"
They're never to be separated" confided
kathy; that's in the bargain. So, when
somebody comes to the 'sylum wanting a
pretty little girl with blue eyes and curls,
they just can't have the littlest of them
two unless they're willing to adopt the one
with brown eyes. too, even il her hair is
plated. No person living can have the one
without the other. If a lady goes crazy
over the brown eyes of the biggest one she
might as we'll make up her mind to go
crazy over the blue eyes of the Iittlest one
at the same time. All that was in the bar
gain L heard every word of it. l don't
believe the aunt would have left them two
on no other conditions" Then kathy
turned about quickly and said in a stage
Whisper, They're comm"
MISS Morgan. the matron, entered the door
OF the children's recreation room. She was
tan, complacent woman, looking equal to
her undertaking in this world and satisfied
with 1t. By each hand she held a small
girl. four and five years old, respectively
The two little heads were bowed bashfuIly
Neither of them two" understood the
meaning OF the word asylum" indeed
they had never heard it. They were simply
going through new process, the initiation
into the large ROOM full of little girls and
boys They had gone through ever so many
processes lately.
These two little girls are named Rosy
addressing the inhabitants of the large
room that We're nearest to her land |
want you all to make them at home Tom
my, you must sing for them, and-Kathy.
there you are,'
Kathy. wreathed in smiles, stepped for
ward
You take care of them. Kathy." said the
matron, loosening the clasp of the tfmid
fingers on her own, "and tell them who
everybody is and give each of them doll
and a rocking chair"
Half a dozen small rocking chairs were
eagerly thrust toward the newcomers, with
generous 1nsistencs that they take 'em
and keep en-, and great rag dolls were
em f1,p offered. But Rosy and Maud
"Bashful, l reckon?" said Kathy cheer
fully, to Miss Morgan. They'll soon get
over that. You can have my hands, if you
want to, Rosy and Maud There! | got
your
That's right. said the matron, affection
ateiy. You stay with Kathy,. little girls;
she tells beautiful stOries-Fve heard her
myself-about fairies and little dogs and
little cats: Anything you want to know
you ask Kathy."
Then she was gone and Kathy and them
two were the center of attraction.
You all so away, ordered Kathy,
frowning on the crowd that was pressing
closer. ''of course they feel funny; funny
as you'd feel if you'd just come You go
away and leave them to me-"
Kathy was generally obeyed. She under
stood that neither small rocking chairs nor
large rag dolls would prove beneficial to the
little girls while they chung to her hands so
tightly. She settled herself between them
on of the long benches and began to
talk. In Kathy's philosophy, talking was
90 ,ct IA n Ilrfa LING Cha
talked and talked sometimes she SOL
emn, sometimes she laughed, by and by she
put a question first to one and then to the
other of the little girls, and, before they
knew it, Rosy and Maud were talking too.
After awhile Kathy proposed carrying
them around the room to look at things"
and, all of them smiling and arm in arm,
they promenaded the bare floor finally
marching In triumph to the group con-
tanning the head nurse.
Mary Jane" said Kathy, their father
and mother died in the same week, think
of 1t! Then they was IN a big school, and
I reckon their folks couldn't pay for EN-.
Then they was out in the country with
their aunt. From what they say, l mag
inc she couldn't afford to keep 'em neither,
and so she brought 'em here. And, mind
die If they'd take her away from Maud and
Maud says she'll kill anybody who tries to
take her away from Rosy"
''Oh!" cried Mary Jane mol she wouldn't
kill anybody
Yes I would" said Maud
''rhey act like they We're twins" contin-
ued Kathy. but you wouldn't believe how
much sense this little biggest one has.
Like as not she'll remember her father and
mother long as she lives
cot course 1 will" said Rosy, gravely
nodding.
Tommy Daybreak stood with his mouth
open. Did they have farver and muv-
ver?'' said he.
Yes" answered Kathy, proud of her
friendship with the newcomers.
''Kathy has father herself, little girls"
said Mamie Star.
1t was in the evening, after Rosy and
Maud had eaten supper at one of the long,
low tables in dear little chairs that were
not rocking chairs. but regular dining
chairs for small people that Kathy found
opportunity to tell them about herself. af-
ter frowning the other children to a re-
spectful distance. where you can't hear"
said the story teller, discreetly.
'Sylums, you know" explained Kathy
ARE big houses for children who haven't
any parents, and you're taught here from
kindergarten up till you're took away. But
I'm not like the rest. I've got a father.