Page:Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).djvu/32

14 died a twin. (Twins very often don't live to grow up, and triplets almost never—did you know that, Mr. Cobb?) We don't call him Marquis, only Mark. Jenny is named for a singer and Fanny for a beautiful dancer, but mother says they 're both misfits, for Jenny can't carry a tune and Fanny 's kind of stiff-legged. Mother would like to call them Jane and Frances and give up their middle names, but she says it would n't be fair to father. She says we must always stand up for father, because everything was against him, and he would n't have died if he had n't had such bad luck. I think that 's all there is to tell about us," she finished seriously.

"Land o' Liberty! I should think it was enough," ejaculated Mr. Cobb. "There wa'n't many names left when your mother got through choosin'! You 've got a powerful good memory! I guess it ain't no trouble for you to learn your lessons, is it?"

"Not much; the trouble is to get the shoes to go and learn 'em. These are spandy new I 've got on, and they have to last six months. Mother always says to save my shoes. There don't seem to be any way of saving shoes but taking 'em off and going barefoot; but I can't do that in Riverboro without shaming aunt Mirandy. I 'm going to school right along now when I 'm living with aunt Mirandy, and in two years I 'm going to the seminary at Wareham; mother says it ought to be the