登陆注册
5228200000019

第19章 CHAPTER VIII--THE YOUNG MINISTER'S PSYCHOLOGIC(2)

'Certainly; but he was only supplying a pulpit there; now he has his own parish. He is taking up a course of child-study, and asked me if he was at liberty to use the twins for psychological observations. I assented most gratefully, thinking, you know, that he couldn't study them unless he kept them with him a good deal; but he counted without his host, as you can imagine. He lives at the hotel until his cottage is finished, and the first thing I knew he had hired a stout nursemaid as his contribution to the service of humanity. I think he was really sorry for me, for I was so confined I could scarcely ever ride, or drive, or play tennis; and besides, he simply had to have somebody to hold the children while he observed them. We succeeded better after the nurse came, and we all had delightful walks and conversations together, just a nice little family party! The hotel people called Atlantic the Cyclone, and Pacific the Warrior.

Sometimes strangers took us for the children's parents, and that was embarrassing; not that I mind being mistaken for a parent, but I decline being credited, or discredited, with the maternity of those imps!'

'They are altogether new in my experience,' confessed Mary.

'That is just what the young minister said.'

'Will he keep up his psychological investigation during the autumn?'

Mary inquired.

'He really has no material there.'

'What will he do, then?--carry it on by correspondence?'

'No, that is always unsatisfactory. I fancy he will come here occasionally: it is the most natural place, and he is especially eager to meet you.'

'Of course!' said Mistress Mary, reciting provokingly:

'"My lyre I tune, my voice I raise, But with my numbers mix my sighs, And whilst I sing Euphelia's praise I fix my soul on Chloe's eyes."'

'How delightful,' she added, 'how inspiring it is to see a young man so devoted to science, particularly to this neglected science! I shall be charmed to know more of his psychology and observe his observations.'

'He is extremely clever.'

'I have no doubt of it from what you tell me, both clever and ingenious.'

'And his cottage is lovely; it will be finished and furnished by next summer,--Queen Anne, you know.'

Now, this was so purely irrelevant that there was a wicked hint of intention about it; and though Mistress Mary was smiling (and quaking) in the very depths of her heart, she cruelly led back the conversation into safe educational channels. 'Isn't it curious,' she said, 'that we should have thought Lisa, not the twins, the impossible problem? Yet, as I have written you, her solution is something to which we can look forward with reasonable confidence.

It is scarcely eighteen months, but the work accomplished is almost incredible, even to me, and I have watched and counted every step.'

'The only explanation must be this,' said Rhoda, 'that her condition was largely the fruit of neglect and utter lack of comprehension.

The state of mind and body in which she came to us was out of all proportion to the moving cause, when we discovered it. Her mother thought she would be an imbecile, the Grubbs treated her as one, and nobody cared to find out what she really was or could be.'

'Her brain had been writ upon by the "moving finger,"' quoted Mary, 'though the writing was not graved so deep but that love and science could erase it. You remember the four lines in Omar Khayyam?

"'The moving finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your piety nor wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line, Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."'

'Edith says I will hardly know her,' said Rhoda.

'It is true. The new physician is a genius, and physically and outwardly she has changed more in the last three months than in the preceding year. She dresses herself neatly now, braids her own hair, and ties her ribbons prettily. Edith has kept up her gymnastics, and even taught her to row and play nine-pins. For the first time in my life, Rhoda, I can fully understand a mother's passion for a crippled, or a blind, or a defective child. I suppose it was only Lisa's desperate need that drew us to her at first. We all loved and pitied her, even at the very height of her affliction; but now she fascinates me. I know no greater pleasure than the daily miracle of her growth. She is to me the sister I never had, the child I never shall have. When we think of our success with this experiment, we must try to keep our faith in human nature, even under the trying ordeal of the twins.'

'My faith in human nature is absolutely intact,' answered Rhoda; 'the trouble is that the Warrior and the Cyclone are not altogether human.

Atlantic is the coldest creature I ever knew,--so cold that he could stand the Shadrach-Meshech-and Abednego test with impunity; Pacific is hot,--so hot-tempered that one can hardly touch her without being scorched. If I had money enough to conduct an expensive experiment, I would separate them, and educate Pacific at the North Pole, and Atlantic in the Tropics.'

'If they are not distinctly human, we must allow them a few human virtues at least,' said Mary; 'for example, their loyalty to each other. Pacific, always at war with the community, seldom hurts her brother; Atlantic, selfish and grasping with all the world, shares generously with his sister. We must remember, too, that Lisa's care has been worse than nothing for them, notwithstanding its absolute fidelity; and their dependence has been a positive injury to her.

There! she has just come into the playground with Edith. Will wonders never cease? Pacific is embracing her knees, and Atlantic allows himself to be hugged!'

Marm Lisa was indeed beside herself with joy at the meeting. She clung to the infant rebels, stroked their hair, admired their aprons, their clean hands, their new boots; and, on being smartly slapped by Atlantic for putting the elastic of his hat behind his ears, kissed his hand as if it had offered a caress. 'He's so little,' she said apologetically, looking up with wet eyes to Edith, who stood near.

同类推荐
  • 慈禧及光绪宾天厄

    慈禧及光绪宾天厄

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 正一出官章仪

    正一出官章仪

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 定应大师布袋和尚传

    定应大师布袋和尚传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 乙未日记摘录

    乙未日记摘录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 一得集

    一得集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 寻仙少年

    寻仙少年

    杨通莫名从地球来到一处修仙的世界,这里有未知的旋律,音符,要想修炼竟然要靠杨通带着的那块螺形助听器,且看他是如何用这块东西吸收那些音符,成为一代人祖!
  • 惜君的信

    惜君的信

    君问归期未有期,巴山夜雨涨秋池,曾经沧海难为水,除却巫山不是云。
  • 重临大地

    重临大地

    当梦境可化为现实,当幻想亦可成真!当异常降临,我们如何看待这个世界,究竟是幻想化作现实,还是所谓的现实早已残缺?!新旧的交替,混乱的起点,时代的大幕早已悄然揭开。(温馨提示,本书为半无敌文)
  • 重生:霸爱老公火辣妻(全本)
  • 党报品牌建设研究

    党报品牌建设研究

    本书旗帜鲜明地提出党报品牌这一中心概念,从党报品牌定义、内涵,当前党报品牌的现状,存在问题,党报品牌建设指导思想和道路等方面进行了全面深入的阐述,在党报品牌建设这一课题的特殊性、深刻性、系统性、实用性四个方面系统展开论述,力求有所突破。本书材料丰富,论述充分,言之成理,颇有创意。总体来看,刻篇论文立论正确,结构严谨,论证周密,表述清晰,文献综述丰实,引用资料规范,显示了作者较强的独立科研水平。
  • 般舟三昧经

    般舟三昧经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 明代散文阅读参考书目

    明代散文阅读参考书目

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 致我们的余生

    致我们的余生

    他说“余生那么长,不然就在一起吧!”她说“好”
  • 百乐门杀人事件

    百乐门杀人事件

    大上海当红歌星横死尹府!谁能知这富丽的尹府竟是个杀人之地。为了妹妹的离奇死亡,她重回旧地。却发现那个杀人者竟和她有着不同寻常的关系。那被深藏的秘密,也重见天日。是爱,是恨,她躲不了,逃不掉。
  • Lord of the Flies