Beauty and The Beast, and Tales From Home (美女與野獸和其他故事)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1888 Excerpt: ... there's no telling of 'em apart otherways." "Take off the ribbon, then," said Phebe quietly; "Iknow them." "Why, ma'am, it's always done, where they're so like And I'll never be able to tell which is which; for they sleep and wake and feed by the same clock. And you might mistake, after all, in giving 'em names--" "There is no oldest or youngest, John; they are two and yet one this is mine, and this is yours." "I see no difference at all, Phebe," said John; "and how can we divide them?" "We will not divide," she answered; " I only meant it as a sign." She smiled, for the first time in many days. He was glad of heart, but did not understand her. "What shall we call them?" he asked. "Elias and Reuben, after our fathers?" "No, John; their names must be David and Jona than." And so they were called. And they grew, not less, but more alike, in passing through the stages of babyhood. The ribbon of the older one had been removed, and the nurse would have been distracted, but for Phebe's almost miraculous instinct. The former comforted herself with the hope that teething would bring a variation to the two identical mouths; but nol they teethed as one child. John, after desperate attempts, which always failed in spite of the headaches they gave him, postponed the idea of distinguishing one from the other, until they should be old enough to develop some dissimilarity of speech, or gait, or habit. All trouble might have been avoided, had Phebe consented to the least variation in their dresses; but herein she was mildly immovable. "Not yet," was her set reply to her husband; and one day, when he manifested a little annoyance at her persistence, ...