Little women

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE DAISY AND DEMI

I cannot feel that I have done my duty as humble historian of the Marchfamily, without devoting at least one chapter to the two most precious andimportant members of it. Daisy and Demi had now arrived at years ofdiscretion, for in this fast age babies of three or four assert their rights,and get them, too, which is more than many of their elders do. If there everwere a pair of twins in danger of being utterly spoiled by adoration, it wasthese prattling Brookes. Of course they were the most remarkable childrenever born, as will be shown when I mention that they walked at eightmonths, talked fluently at twelve months, and at two years they took theirplaces at table, and behaved with a propriety which charmed all beholders.At three, Daisy demanded a 'needler', and actually made a bag with fourstitches in it. She likewise set up housekeeping in the sideboard, andmanaged a microscopic cooking stove with a skill that brought tears ofpride to Hannah's eyes, while Demi learned his letters with hisgrandfather, who invented a new mode of teaching the alphabet byforming letters with his arms and legs, thus uniting gymnastics for headand heels. The boy early developed a mechanical genius which delightedhis father and distracted his mother, for he tried to imitate every machinehe saw, and kept the nursery in a chaotic condition, with his 'sewinsheen', amysterious structure of string, chairs, clothespins, and spools, for wheelsto go 'wound and wound'. Also a basket hung over the back of a chair, inwhich he vainly tried to hoist his too confiding sister, who, with femininedevotion, allowed her little head to be bumped till rescued, when theyoung inventor indignantly remarked, "Why, Marmar, dat's my lellywaiter,and me's trying to pull her up."

Though utterly unlike in character, the twins got on remarkably welltogether, and seldom quarreled more than thrice a day. Of course, Demityrannized over Daisy, and gallantly defended her from every otheraggressor, while Daisy made a galley slave of herself, and adored herbrother as the one perfect being in the world. A rosy, chubby, sunshinylittle soul was Daisy, who found her way to everybody's heart, and nestledthere. One of the captivating children, who seem made to be kissed andcuddled, adorned and adored like little goddesses, and produced forgeneral approval on all festive occasions. Her small virtues were so sweetthat she would have been quite angelic if a few small naughtinesses hadnot kept her delightfully human. It was all fair weather in her world, andevery morning she scrambled up to the window in her little nightgown tolook out, and say, no matter whether it rained or shone, "Oh, pitty day, oh,pitty day!" Everyone was a friend, and she offered kisses to a stranger soconfidingly that the most inveterate bachelor relented, and baby-loversbecame faithful worshipers. 

"Me loves evvybody," she once said, opening her arms, with her spoonin one hand, and her mug in the other, as if eager to embrace and nourishthe whole world. 

As she grew, her mother began to feel that the Dovecote would beblessed by the presence of an inmate as serene and loving as that whichhad helped to make the old house home, and to pray that she might bespared a loss like that which had lately taught them how long they hadentertained an angel unawares. Her grandfather often called her 'Beth', andher grandmother watched over her with untiring devotion, as if trying toatone for some past mistake, which no eye but her own could see. 

Demi, like a true Yankee, was of an inquiring turn, wanting to knoweverything, and often getting much disturbed because he could not getsatisfactory answers to his perpetual "What for?" 

He also possessed a philosophic bent, to the great delight of hisgrandfather, who used to hold Socratic conversations with him, in whichthe precocious pupil occasionally posed his teacher, to the undisguisedsatisfaction of the womenfolk. 

"What makes my legs go, Dranpa?" asked the young philosopher,surveying those active portions of his frame with a meditative air, whileresting after a go-to-bed frolic one night. 

"It's your little mind, Demi," replied the sage, stroking the yellow headrespectfully. 

"What is a little mine?"