Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-06-10
BY WILLIAM C. SHEPHERD

BARROW, England, June 10.-Tush
with doctors books! Down go medi-
cal theories.
Little Herbert and Mary Pickup
have come into the world with a
bang" that is still reverberating
throughout civilized medical circles.
And the sagest doctors and scientists
are scratching their heads, for though
the institution of birth is about the
oldest thing we know, yet this pair
of babies has rung a brand new
change on it.
1t was worth coming 300 miles from
London to see them lying In their
cradIe-just sleeping-while the doc
tors puzzle.
In all medical history storks have
never behaved this way before.
Did one stork bring the two
babies, six weeks apart, or was it
two storks. bringing baby each?'
That's the query the doctors are
trying to settle.
But I'm going to tell the story that
Mrs. Nellie Pickup told me, as she
sat by the fireplace, holding her
youngest baby in her arms:
ut was on February "A of this year
that Herbert, the first baby, was
born. He was a fine, healthy little
fellow. l rested a couple of weeks,
,, and then l felt SO well that / got
up again and began to watch house
hold affairs.
But one day the doctor told me
] would have to go to the hospital
for an operation. | told him thought
that foolish--that l knew the stork
was coming to our chimney again,
but the doctors couldn't believe it,;
they said it was impossible You see,
they were working by their doctor
books and not by my condition.
six weeks passed. | wasn't feeling
very well on the morning of April 4.
My husband went to business and my
two sons, who are II and years old,
went out to play before school.
knocked on the wall that separates
our fiat from our neighbor, Mrs. Col
perthwait, and she came in. An
hour later Mary Catherine was born,
and she's just as fine a baby as !
ever saw. Look how she laughs,"
And Mary answered a chuck under
the chin with a happy little gurgle.
Are they twins?" l asked.
Indeed they are not The national
insurance board is puzzling over the
matters After Herbert was born and
before Mary came, they gave us the
maternity benefits of 30 shillings. You
see, it wasn't one stork that brought
the two babies, but it was two storks,
six weeks apart. We've applied for
another benefit for Mary, but We
haven't got it yet"
Mrs. Pickup then showed me a
statement signed by DR.. T. T. Mack
lin, of Whalley, England, who at
tended the case. asserting that the
whole puzzling thing was mix-up
between two distinct storks, who, in
some way or other, got their engage
ments confused
And talked to the happy father.
too.
"Strangest thing that ever hap
pened," he said. Il always wanted
a girl We have had three boys, and
l admit that l was a little disap-
pointed when Herbert came last Feb
ruary l was at business on the
morning of April when / got call
to come straight home. I was afraid
my wife had been taken i'll and so I
rushed down the street toward the
house. A neighbor woman stopped
me and said:
Well. you've got your wish!'
What wish?' asked.
"A daughter she said
'''Can't be- l said. Baby was born
only six weeks ago.
''s'You go home and look said the
neighbor woman.
II ran into the house like a storm,
I guess, and sure enough. there was
little Mary Catherine in her mothers
arms. You could have knocked me
over with a feather. l think /
laughed for five minutes. Happy,
Here ! was thinking that my wife
would have to go to a hospital and,
instead of that. | found that my
great wish for a daughter had come
true"
Herbert weighs nine pounds and
Mary eight, and the doctors say there
is every reason to believe that both
of them will live.