The Scotch Twins

een Jean Campbell "redding up" her kitchen. It was a sight best seen from a safe distance, for, though Jean was only twelve years old, she was a fierce little housekeeper

ll, the Shepherd of Glen Easig, and True Tammas, the dog, for the Twins' mother had "slippit awa'" when they were onl

tream of golden sunlight through the eastern windows of the kitchen. The kettle was singing over the fire in the open fireplace, a pan of skimmed milk for the calf was warming by the hearth, and her father was just going out, with the pail on his a

clothes on I'll waken you with a wet cloth! Here's the sun looking in

d one slee

as just having a sonsie wee bit of a dream. Let

"Up with you, mannie, or I'll be dressed before you, and I ken very well

and went to finish her toilet at the basin. There she washed her face and combed her hair, while Jock, cautiously opening one eye again, observed her from his safe retreat. He watched her part her hair, wet it,

Jock that both but and ben all day long, and whatever is the use of all this tirley-wirly I can't see, when on Monday the house

ern young person indeed, but behind the black ribbon Jean's true character stood revealed! However prim and smooth she might make it look in front, where the cracked glass enabled her to keep an eye on it, behind her ba

was still nothing to be seen of him but the shock of sandy hair and a series of bumps

had a Saturday sound to it,-"You

ction, he stuck to it like a true Scotchman and neither moved nor opened his eyes. Jean was driven to desperate measures. She

yourself before I count five, you'll be sorry. One, two, three!" Still no move from Jock

and an instant later Jock was tearing about the kitchen like a cat in

gurgling by the house. Even in her hasty exit from the cottage, Jean had had the presence of mind to take the pail with her, and now she stopped to fill it from the clear, sparkli

otted with grazing sheep. Jean could hear the tinkle of their bells, the bleating of the lambs, and the comforting maternal answers of the ewes. Above the dark forest which spread itself over the slopes of the foot-hills toward the south and east a lave rock was singing, and she could hear the cry of whaups wheeli

o!" she sang, and the hills, taking

barking his morning greeting. They reached the door together, but Jock, mindful of his injuries, had shut and barred it, and was grinning at

coming, but they'll not get in this house! You can just s

nless you'll be getting it yourself, for the porridge is not cooked and the kettle's ne

and True Tammas sat there gazing westward across the valley with the little

hopelessly lost, unfastened the door. Jean, her father, and True Tammas all came into the kitchen t

the strainer and a pan, "and you, Jock, fill the kettle. It's almost dry this minute. And stir up the fire

strained and put away in the little shed room back of the kitchen chimney, Jean got out the oatmeal-kettle and hung the porridge over the fire, and while that was cooking she set three places at the tiny table and scalded the c

pasture, and Jean was left alone in the kitchen of the little gray house. Ah, you should have seen her then! She washed the dishes and put them away in the cupboard, she skimmed the milk and put the cream into the churn, she swept the hearth and shook the blankets out of doors in the fresh morning air. Then she made the beds, and when the kitchen was all in order, she "wen

to manage, and the cupboard with its shelves of dishes. There were three stools, and a big chair for the Shepherd, and the great chest where the clothes were kept, and besides all these things there was the wag-at-the-wall clock on the mantel-shelf which had to be wound every Saturday night. If you

e house only when he knew he couldn't postpone his tasks any long

ls bobbing gaily up and down behind. "A body'd think you were seventy-five years old and

girl's work or not, he was to help Jean, so he slowly dragged

e churn else you'd drop to sleep and fall in and drown yourself in the buttermilk! The bu

andle. Soon little yellow specks began to appear; and when they had formed themselves into a ball in the churn,

ew strength in you, for you've got to go out and weed the garden. I looked a

too," begged Jock. "This milk'll do no more than sl

cupboard door an

scone. I'll have to bake more for the Sabbath, and you can have th

and led him to the door; an

ould be with Father, watching the sheep! It's shame to a dog to be lo

es beseechingly upward, and if ever a dog looked ashamed of himself, that dog was Tam. J

zy as Jock himself. Whatever s

pped round the corner of the house and whistled. All Tam's shame was gone in an instant.