551 Though utterly unlike in character, the twins got on remarkably13 well together, and seldom quarrelled more than thrice a day. Of course, Demi tyrannized over Daisy, and gallantly14 defended her from every other aggressor; while Daisy made a galley-slave of herself, and adored her brother as the one perfect being in the world. A rosy15, chubby16, sunshiny little soul was Daisy, who found her way to everybody's heart, and nestled there. One of the captivating children, who seem made to be kissed and cuddled, adorned17 and adored like little goddesses, and produced for general approval on all festive18 occasions. Her small virtues19 were so sweet that she would have been quite angelic if a few small naughtinesses had not kept her delightfully20 human. It was all fair weather in her world, and every morning she scrambled21 up to the window in her little night-gown to look out, and say, no matter whether it rained or shone, "Oh, pitty day, oh, pitty day!" Every one was a friend, and she offered kisses to a stranger so confidingly22 that the most inveterate23 bachelor relented, and baby-lovers became faithful worshippers.
Me loves evvybody
"Me loves evvybody," she once said, opening her arms, with her spoon in one hand, and her mug in the other, as if eager to embrace and nourish the whole world.
As she grew, her mother began to feel that the Dove-cote would be blest by the presence of an inmate24 as serene25 and loving as that which had helped to make the old house home, and to pray that she might be spared a loss like that which had lately taught them how long they had entertained an angel unawares. Her grandfather often called her "Beth," and her grandmother watched over her with 552 untiring devotion, as if trying to atone26 for some past mistake, which no eye but her own could see.
Demi, like a true Yankee, was of an inquiring turn, wanting to know everything, and often getting much disturbed because he could not get satisfactory answers to his perpetual "What for?"
He also possessed27 a philosophic28 bent29, to the great delight of his grandfather, who used to hold Socratic conversations with him, in which the precocious30 pupil occasionally posed his teacher, to the undisguised satisfaction of the womenfolk.
What makes my legs go, dranpa?
"What makes my legs go, dranpa?" asked the young philosopher, surveying those active portions of his frame with a meditative31 air, while resting after a go-to-bed frolic one night.
"What is a little mine?"
"It is something which makes your body move, as the spring made the wheels go in my watch when I showed it to you."
553 "Open me; I want to see it go wound."
"I can't do that any more than you could open the watch. God winds you up, and you go till He stops you."
"Does I?" and Demi's brown eyes grew big and bright as he took in the new thought. "Is I wounded up like the watch?"
"Yes; but I can't show you how; for it is done when we don't see."
Demi felt of his back, as if expecting to find it like that of the watch, and then gravely remarked,—
"I dess Dod does it when I's asleep."
A careful explanation followed, to which he listened so attentively33 that his anxious grandmother said,—
"My dear, do you think it wise to talk about such things to that baby? He's getting great bumps over his eyes, and learning to ask the most unanswerable questions."
"If he is old enough to ask the questions he is old enough to receive true answers. I am not putting the thoughts into his head, but helping34 him unfold those already there. These children are wiser than we are, and I have no doubt the boy understands every word I have said to him. Now, Demi, tell me where you keep your mind?"
If the boy had replied like Alcibiades, "By the gods, Socrates, I cannot tell," his grandfather would not have been surprised; but when, after standing35 a moment on one leg, like a meditative young stork36, he answered, in a tone of calm conviction, "In my little belly," the old gentleman could only join in grandma's laugh, and dismiss the class in metaphysics.
There might have been cause for maternal37 anxiety, if Demi had not given convincing proofs that he was a true boy, as well as a budding philosopher; for, often, after a discussion which caused Hannah to prophesy38, with ominous39 nods, "That child ain't long for this world," he would turn about and set her fears at rest by some of the pranks40 with which dear, dirty, naughty little rascals41 distract and delight their parents' souls.
Meg made many moral rules, and tried to keep them; but what mother was ever proof against the winning wiles42, the ingenious evasions43, 554 or the tranquil44 audacity45 of the miniature men and women who so early show themselves accomplished46 Artful Dodgers47?
"No more raisins48, Demi, they'll make you sick," says mamma to the young person who offers his services in the kitchen with unfailing regularity49 on plum-pudding day.
"Me likes to be sick."
"I don't want to have you, so run away and help Daisy make patty-cakes."
He reluctantly departs, but his wrongs weigh upon his spirit; and, by and by, when an opportunity comes to redress50 them, he outwits mamma by a shrewd bargain.
"Now you have been good children, and I'll play anything you like," says Meg, as she leads her assistant cooks upstairs, when the pudding is safely bouncing in the pot.
"Truly, marmar?" asks Demi, with a brilliant idea in his well-powdered head.
"Yes, truly; anything you say," replies the short-sighted parent, preparing herself to sing "The Three Little Kittens" half a dozen times over, or to take her family to "Buy a penny bun," regardless of wind or limb. But Demi corners her by the cool reply,—
"Then we'll go and eat up all the raisins."
Aunt Dodo was chief playmate and confidante of both children, and the trio turned the little house topsy-turvy. Aunt Amy was as yet only a name to them, Aunt Beth soon faded into a pleasantly vague memory, but Aunt Dodo was a living reality, and they made the most of her, for which compliment she was deeply grateful. But when Mr. Bhaer came, Jo neglected her playfellows, and dismay and desolation fell upon their little souls. Daisy, who was fond of going about peddling51 kisses, lost her best customer and became bankrupt; Demi, with infantile penetration52, soon discovered that Dodo liked to play with "the bear-man" better than she did with him; but, though hurt, he concealed53 his anguish54, for he hadn't the heart to insult a rival who kept a mine of chocolate-drops in his waistcoat-pocket, and a watch that could be taken out of its case and freely shaken by ardent55 admirers.
Some persons might have considered these pleasing liberties as bribes56; but Demi didn't see it in that light, and continued to patronize 555 the "bear-man" with pensive57 affability, while Daisy bestowed58 her small affections upon him at the third call, and considered his shoulder her throne, his arm her refuge, his gifts treasures of surpassing worth.
Gentlemen are sometimes seized with sudden fits of admiration59 for the young relatives of ladies whom they honor with their regard; but this counterfeit60 philoprogenitiveness sits uneasily upon them, and does not deceive anybody a particle. Mr. Bhaer's devotion was sincere, however likewise effective,—for honesty is the best policy in love as in law; he was one of the men who are at home with children, and looked particularly well when little faces made a pleasant contrast with his manly61 one. His business, whatever it was, detained him from day to day, but evening seldom failed to bring him out to see—well, he always asked for Mr. March, so I suppose he was the attraction. The excellent papa labored62 under the delusion63 that he was, and revelled64 in long discussions with the kindred spirit, till a chance remark of his more observing grandson suddenly enlightened him.
Mr. Bhaer came in one evening to pause on the threshold of the study, astonished by the spectacle that met his eye. Prone65 upon the floor lay Mr. March, with his respectable legs in the air, and beside him, likewise prone, was Demi, trying to imitate the attitude with his own short, scarlet-stockinged legs, both grovellers so seriously absorbed that they were unconscious of spectators, till Mr. Bhaer laughed his sonorous66 laugh, and Jo cried out, with a scandalized face,—
"Father, father, here's the Professor!"
Down went the black legs and up came the gray head, as the preceptor said, with undisturbed dignity,—
"Good evening, Mr. Bhaer. Excuse me for a moment; we are just finishing our lesson. Now, Demi, make the letter and tell its name."
"I knows him!" and, after a few convulsive efforts, the red legs took the shape of a pair of compasses, and the intelligent pupil triumphantly67 shouted, "It's a We, dranpa, it's a We!"
Dranpa, it's a We
"He's a born Weller," laughed Jo, as her parent gathered himself up, and her nephew tried to stand on his head, as the only mode of expressing his satisfaction that school was over.
"What have you been at to-day, bübchen?" asked Mr. Bhaer, picking up the gymnast.
556 "Me went to see little Mary."
"And what did you there?"
"I kissed her," began Demi, with artless frankness.
"Prut! thou beginnest early. What did the little Mary say to that?" asked Mr. Bhaer, continuing to confess the young sinner, who stood upon his knee, exploring the waistcoat-pocket.
"Oh, she liked it, and she kissed me, and I liked it. Don't little boys like little girls?" added Demi, with his mouth full, and an air of bland68 satisfaction.
"You precocious chick! Who put that into your head?" said Jo, enjoying the innocent revelations as much as the Professor.
"'Tisn't in mine head; it's in mine mouf," answered literal Demi, putting out his tongue, with a chocolate-drop on it, thinking she alluded69 to confectionery, not ideas.
"Thou shouldst save some for the little friend: sweets to the sweet, mannling;" and Mr. Bhaer offered Jo some, with a look that made her wonder if chocolate was not the nectar drunk by the gods. Demi also saw the smile, was impressed by it, and artlessly inquired,—
"Do great boys like great girls, too, 'Fessor?"
557 Like young Washington, Mr. Bhaer "couldn't tell a lie;" so he gave the somewhat vague reply that he believed they did sometimes, in a tone that made Mr. March put down his clothes-brush, glance at Jo's retiring face, and then sink into his chair, looking as if the "precocious chick" had put an idea into his head that was both sweet and sour.
Why Dodo, when she caught him in the china-closet half an hour afterward70, nearly squeezed the breath out of his little body with a tender embrace, instead of shaking him for being there, and why she followed up this novel performance by the unexpected gift of a big slice of bread and jelly, remained one of the problems over which Demi puzzled his small wits, and was forced to leave unsolved forever.
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1
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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discretion
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| n.谨慎；随意处理 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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prattling
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| v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话( prattle的现在分词 )；发出连续而无意义的声音；闲扯；东拉西扯 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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microscopic
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| adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的 | |
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chaotic
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| adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的 | |
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spools
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| n.（绕线、铁线、照相软片等的）管( spool的名词复数 )；络纱；纺纱机；绕圈轴工人v.把…绕到线轴上（或从线轴上绕下来）( spool的第三人称单数 )；假脱机（输出或输入） | |
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hoist
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| n.升高，起重机，推动；v.升起，升高，举起 | |
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12
confiding
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| adj.相信人的，易于相信的v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的现在分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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13
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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gallantly
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| adv. 漂亮地，勇敢地，献殷勤地 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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chubby
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| adj.丰满的，圆胖的 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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20
delightfully
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| 大喜，欣然 | |
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21
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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confidingly
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| adv.信任地 | |
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inveterate
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| adj.积习已深的，根深蒂固的 | |
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inmate
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| n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人 | |
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serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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atone
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| v.赎罪，补偿 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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30
precocious
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| adj.早熟的；较早显出的 | |
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meditative
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| adj.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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sage
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| n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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stork
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| n.鹳 | |
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37
maternal
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| adj.母亲的，母亲般的，母系的，母方的 | |
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prophesy
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| v.预言；预示 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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40
pranks
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| n.玩笑，恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
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41
rascals
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| 流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人 | |
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42
wiles
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| n.（旨在欺骗或吸引人的）诡计，花招；欺骗，欺诈( wile的名词复数 ) | |
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43
evasions
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| 逃避( evasion的名词复数 )； 回避； 遁辞； 借口 | |
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44
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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45
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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46
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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47
dodgers
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| n.躲闪者，欺瞒者( dodger的名词复数 ) | |
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48
raisins
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| n.葡萄干( raisin的名词复数 ) | |
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49
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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50
redress
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| n.赔偿，救济，矫正；v.纠正，匡正，革除 | |
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51
peddling
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| 忙于琐事的，无关紧要的 | |
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52
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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53
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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54
anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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55
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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56
bribes
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| n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂 | |
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57
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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58
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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60
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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61
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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62
labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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63
delusion
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| n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑 | |
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64
revelled
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| v.作乐( revel的过去式和过去分词 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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65
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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66
sonorous
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| adj.响亮的，回响的；adv.圆润低沉地；感人地；n.感人，堂皇 | |
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67
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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68
bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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69
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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