human
You're no more fit to bring up girls, Lemuel, than I am to steer one of these dratted airships the papers are full of!
gpt
No. You are right, said Mr. Lockwood.
human
The comparison is just. You would _not_ do well in an airship, Dora.
gpt
Huh! I should think not! And you're as little fit to bring up two girls--and twins, at that!
human
But--but I don't really bring them up, said Mr. Lockwood, apologetically.
gpt
Mrs. Betsey does that.
human
Mrs. Betsey!
gpt
And really, they get along very well, Sister.
human
They get along well because they are no trouble to you.
gpt
Well, isn't that as it should be? They are good girls--and loving girls.
human
I declare to man! Lemuel Lockwood, you haven't any more idea of what those girls need than a babe unborn.
gpt
What _do_ they need, Dora?
human
They need a strong hand--a stern and uncompromising spirit to govern them--that's what they need!
gpt
But Dora, they are good girls and make me no trouble at all.
human
Of course they make you no trouble. You let them do exactly as they wish.
gpt
No, no! urged Mr. Lockwood, hastily.
human
They don't always do as they wish. Sometimes we haven't the money to let them do _with_. I've heard Mrs. Betsey say so. And--and--why, there is one of them who likes three lumps of sugar in her coffee; but I always reprove her for it. That is extravagance.
gpt
Huh!
human
Otherwise they are no trouble to me at all, said Mr. Lockwood, briskly.
gpt
They are not, I assure you. We live a very quiet and peaceful life here.
human
Yah! exclaimed his sister.
gpt
That is all you want--peace.
human
I admit it--I admit it, returned her brother.
gpt
I am naturally retiring and of a peaceful disposition, Dora.
human
You're a natural born fool, Lemuel! declared his sister, so sharply that the twins, who were inadvertently listening at the door, hesitating to go in, fairly jumped.
gpt
I want to tell you right now that you are a disgrace to manhood! You've never amounted to a row of beans since you were out of pinafores. If your little property wasn't tied up hard and fast so that you could only use the income of it, you would have frittered it all away long ago, and left these children penniless. You've never made a dollar in your life, Lemuel Lockwood!
human
But--but there has never been any real necessity for me to make money, stammered the horticulturist.
gpt
And one of these days we are going to have a plenty. I've got a melon started here on the bench, Dora----
human
You needn't show me any of your nasty plants. They're all ridiculous. And it isn't plants we're talking about. It's girls. Mercy knows how an inscrutable Providence ever came to allow two helpless girl babies to fall into your hands, Lemuel. But they're here and you've the burden of them. One would be more than you could manage properly; but two is ridiculous. I'd undertake, as I have told you before, to bring my namesake up as a girl _should_ be brought up--and that will leave more money for you to fritter away on your hot-beds and cold-frames, and the like,
gpt
Dora! exclaimed Mr. Lockwood, with a quaver in his voice,
human
Think it? sniffed his sister.
gpt
I know it! And everybody else with sense knows it. How can a mere man bring up twin girls and give them a proper start in life?
human
But Mrs. Betsey does her very best----
gpt
And what does _she_ know? demanded his sister.
human
Does she ever read papers upon the proper management of girls? Or magazine articles upon what a young girl should be taught by her parents? Or books upon the growth and development of the girlish mind?
gpt
No--o, admitted Mr. Lockwood.
human
I am very sure Mrs. Betsey never has time for such reading.
gpt
Then what does she know about it?
human
But they are hardly ever sick--and how pretty they both are!
gpt
Bah! never sick! pretty! ejaculated Aunt Dora, staccato.
human
What about their souls, Lemuel Lockwood? What about the development of their minds? Have you done aught to make them stern and uncompromising when they meet the world on an equal footing--as all women shall in the time to come? Are you preparing them for their work in life? Are they prepared to take the helm of affairs and show Man how Woman can guide affairs of moment?
gpt
I--I hope not! murmured Mr. Lockwood, aghast.
human
They are just girls going to school, and studying, and having fun, and loving each other. No, Dora, the stern duties of life have not troubled them as yet, thank God!
gpt
But they should be beginning to realize them, Lemuel, declared his sister.
human
Life is not fun. There is no time to dawdle around with plays, and athletics, and such foolishness. Where are they this minute, Lemuel Lockwood?
gpt
Why--why, they went out on the lake.
human
In what?
gpt
A canoe, I understand.
human
And what's a canoe? gasped Aunt Dora.
gpt
Is _that_ a proper thing for young girls to ride in? Why! it's a savage boat--an Indian boat. A canoe, indeed!
human
But I scarcely can think there is any harm in their paddling a canoe. Many of their schoolmates do so, and their physical instructor, Mrs. Case, approves.
gpt
It is no business for my namesake to be in, declared Aunt Dora.
human
You named her after me, Lemuel, and I feel that I have some right to her. She having no mother, and I being her godmother, she is more mine than anybody else's. And I am determined to take her home with me.
gpt
Take Dora? gasped Mr. Lockwood.
human
Whatever should we do without her?
gpt
Hah! exclaimed his sister.
human
You have the other one.
gpt
But--but it doesn't seem as though one would be complete without the other, said Mr. Lockwood, thoughtfully.
human
They have always been together. Why, nobody knows them apart----
gpt
And that's another foolish thing! exclaimed Aunt Dora.
human
To allow two girls to reach their age and have nobody able to distinguish between them. Dressing them just alike, and all! It is ridiculous.
gpt
But they have always wished to be just alike, Sister,
human
exclaimed Aunt Dora.
gpt
Is it _their_ place to have their way in such affairs? That is exactly what I say, Lemuel--you're not fit to manage the girls. And I am determined to save one of them from the results of your mismanagement. I have always noticed, added Aunt Dora, a little less confidently,