A pair of twin sisters were so much alike,
that it was difficult to distinguish them. Their little hearts
were also blended in the sweetest love. Dressed always alike,
they might usually be seen, hand in hand; and wherever one was,
you might be sure that the other could not be far away.
When old enough to attend school, they sat
side by side, studied from the same book, wrote the same copy,
shaded with their pencils the same flower, warbled the same
song, in the same key. They enjoyed the instructions of a very
faithful teacher, who sometimes, to test the thorough
preparation of her pupils, called them to recite separately.
On such an occasion, one of the twins
having neglected her lesson, mistook, and faltered. Tears
started to her eyes, and the embarrassment of betraying
ignorance convulsed her with shame. Just at that crisis the
teacher was called out.
The other sister, seated upon her bench,
well prepared with her lesson, sympathized in all the suffering
of her second self. Her breast heaved, and her cheek was
suffused with crimson. Springing to the side of the tried one,
she forced her backward into her seat, with a rapidity that
overcame resistance, and stood up in her place.
The teacher returned, resumed her
examination, and found every question answered promptly, and
with perfect correctness. At first she was surprised, yet
supposed a little interval had enabled the pupil, by reflection,
to collect her thoughts, or possibly to review those points of
the lesson in which she was most deficient.
But the expression of an approbation which
was not fairly earned, troubled the consciences of these
pure-minded sisters. They could not be happy, thus to deceive
their teacher.
Requesting to be permitted to stay after
school, they approached her with tears, and confessed what they
had done.
"I could not bear to see my poor
sister in such pain," said the sweet one who rescued her.
"Forgive us, we are but one," said their little voices
in unison. "God bless you," said their kind
preceptress, "may you be one in Heaven."
