So different, these two. Lillian had been a pensive baby—one to lie
quietly, looking at nothing, as one thinking long thoughts—possibly of a
pleasanter land, so recently left behind. Dorothy’s arms and legs were
perpetually in action ... impossible to keep the covers on her. When she
could creep about, then walk, it was necessary to grab quickly for one’s
possessions.
Lillian had a doll, probably a tidy rag-doll, or a very small china one,
and a little rocker, which she sometimes sat in, holding her doll and
singing to it. She never really cared for dolls. Ruddy-haired Dorothy
was lovelier than any doll. When Lillian held her, as she did, often,
they made a dainty picture: one doll rocking another.
* * * * *
A tragic thing happened. Lillian sat in her chair alone, one day, when a
terrible object looked in the window. It was a workman, who had put on a
false face, to frighten her. He succeeded. The terrified child screamed
and went into spasms. Always, after that, she was subject to nightmares,
from which she awoke, screaming. In later years they came during periods
of prolonged rehearsal. Usually they took one of two forms: She was in a
wood, at evening ... the trees became sinister, drew their roots from
the ground and pursued her.... Or in a field, where there were many red
poppies ... large ones ... the California kind. They became very tall,
and threatening, like the trees.... They came up and slapped her in the
face.
In summer time Mrs. Gish took her little girls to visit her sister
Emily, who had married and lived at Massillon, in the eastern part of
the state. It was a happy place for children. There was a green
dooryard, with chickens, a cat asleep on the porch, a dog—a kindly dog
who would not hurt a little girl and her baby sister.
And in the house was a wonderful cupboard, where a number of interesting
things were kept, including a bottle of Castoria. Lillian was not
meddlesome, but she had a complex for Castoria. She would even dose
herself with it surreptitiously. Her aunt put the bottle on an upper
shelf, but Lillian with a chair, a high-chair if necessary, would manage
to reach it. It became a kind of game. Her aunt took a Castoria bottle
and secretly half filled it with cod liver oil, which certainly was not
playing the game fairly. There it stood, in plain view; even a low chair
would reach it. A good swallow—saints above! What an explosion, what a
spitting, what a grabbing at the poor punished tongue! Lillian was
naturally very honest. Castoria had been the one temptation she could
not resist. Her character was now perfect.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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