, 1923-06-28
Betty and Betsy,
the Twins
By JANE OSBORN
% by MCCLURE Newspaper syndicate.)

were redl IWlnS we wouldn't DOtn
have been christened Elizabeth. One
of us would have been named Anne or
Patricia or Gwendolyn or something"
The fact was that Betty Blair and
Betsy Blair were cousins, born within
a day or so of each other, one In far
away India and the other In the New
England home of her ancestors.
Betsy's missionary parents had sent
her home when they found they could
not hope to rear her in the Indian
climate, but had both succumbed to
hat climate before they could revisit
their home. So Betsy had been
brought up by uncle and aunt, the
parents OF her cousin-twin Betty. and
there were many people In the old
town who half suspected that they
were twins anyhow. so closely did they
resemble each other and so Identical
vas their size.
Sometimes Betty and Betsy nearly
forgot which was the orphan and
which the real child of the good par
ents who brought them up, and when
Great Aunt Elizabeth Blair grew old
and near-sighted she gave up trying
to remember which was Toms child
ana which was Johns. She called
them both Bet. 1t didn't seem to
make much difference to her which
was which. Her small bank account
of four thousand dollars she left equal
ly divided, with this specification:
"If you decide to marry, the money
Is to be spent for a trousseau and
household things-plenty of linen. as
well as pretty clothes to start in right.
l want you to spend 1t all for your
wedding outlay. If one of you girls
decides not to maryland it isn't nee
essary nowadays-then the two thou
sand dollars is to go to help with
special training in the career she
chooses instead of marriage"
So the cousins had planned since
old Aunt Elizabeth had died in their
fifteenth year.
One of us will have to be married."
Betty, or Betsy, would say, Just to
see what fun 1t would be spending
all that money on clothes INT things,
but for variety one must Jhave G ca
reer. If some very nice man ome
along and wants one of us to marry
him. why the one of us that likes him
best will have him and the other can
have a career"
The nature of the career seemed at
the time to be as vague as the identity
of the mice man. who was one day
to "come along"
BY the time the twin cousins were
nineteen their tastes had developed
| until pafeu uyoc 1nGnftaIu Hien1.al 90
follow the career of an accompanies
II anything-and Betty had deter
mined to study architecture. More
over, Betty had discovered the mice
man.; and as 1t was perfectly obvi-
GUS that his preference lay with Betty
and that Betsy took not the slightest
interest In him, It was definitely de-
cided that Betsy should go on with
her musical career, at least as far as
two thousand dollars would take her.
And the investment of the two thou
sand dollars in wedding things began.
1t was as much Betsy's spending rs
Betty's. Betty made no selections
without asking Betsy's advice and
even the frocks that were bought
ready made or ordered at the dress
makers were as often fitted to Betsy
as Betty. In that way Betty had a
better chance to look at them and
suggest alterations or design. And
Betty and Betsy seemed to be of pre-
cisely the same proportions.
In he meantime Betsy was laying
her scheme for the spending of her
own W thousand dollars on her mu-
/ Strol n6upofiOn md che xvo A,-g.
ming to think that 1t was easier to
stretch ones when 1t came
to buying the pretty bride clothes and
household linen than when 1t came to
Investing In IA musical education. At
first she had planned to spend a year
In New York, but she soon discovered
that this would make necessary the
spending of most Of her little legacy
on clearinghouse bills. So instead
she determined to adopt the com
muter's plan. The New England coun-
try home lay an hours ride from Bos-
ton-and though II certainly was moi
nearly so picturesque to catch trains
and live at home and practice on the
family piano as to practice on n rented
piano In the solitude of ones own
studio room in the clty-stlll there
were advantages.
But Betsy was waiting until all the
excitement Of buying Betty's trous-
seau should be over. A mid-October
wedding had been planned-the music
lessons could walt until the begin
ming Of November.
There had been no last-mlnute sour
rying In this trousseau purchasing.
BY the last Of September all selec-
lions had been made and from the
shops In town had come all the inter
esting boxes save those to hold one or
two frocks, n suit, and n coat TINT
needed alterations And tba t,yo tI,,,,