MARGARET AND HERBERT.
In a large family there are often diversity of character and varieties
of mood and temper, which bring some clouds of sorrow. In our little
Eden of innocence there were storms now and then. Miles was a little
wild and head-strong from his babyhood, and Margaret, though very
beautiful, was often wilful and vain. For five years the twins had
grown up together the same in beauty and health One day an accident
befel Herber
, and the dear child rose from his bed of sickness a pale
and crippled boy. His twin sister grew up tall and blooming. The
twins loved each other very much, and it was a pleasant sight to see
how the deformed boy was cherished and protected by his sister
Margaret. She would often leave us in the midst of our plays to go and
sit by Herbert, who could not share with us in them.
We had our yearly festivals, our cowslip gatherings, our blackberry
huntings, our hay makings, and all the delights so pleasant to country
children. Our five birthdays were each signalized by simple presents
and evening parties, in the garden or the house, as the season
permitted. Herbert and Margaret's birthdays came in the sunny time of
May, when there were double rejoicings to be made. They were always
set up in their chairs in the bower, decorated with flowers and
crowned with wreaths. I now think of Margaret smiling under her
brilliant garland, while poor Herbert looked up to her with his pale
sweet face. I heard him once say to her when we had all gone away to
pluck flowers:
"How beautiful you are to-day, Margaret, with your rosy checks and
brown hair."
"But that does not make me any better or prettier than you, because I
am strong and you are not, or that my cheeks are red and your's are
pale."
Miles was just carrying little Dora over the steeping stones at the
brook, when Herbert cried:
"O, if I could only run and leap like Miles; but I am very helpless."
To which Margaret replied: "Never mind, brother; I will love you and
take care of you all your life," and she said these words with a
sister's love, as she put her arms around the neck of her helpless
brother. She loved him the more, and aimed to please him by reading
books to him which were his delight. This was a pleasant sight, and
the brothers always admired Margaret for her attention to their
helpless brother.