Family life -- Juvenile fiction; Girls -- Juvenile fiction; Sisters -- Juvenile fiction
Kittie loved fun as much as Kat, but she was not quite so frolicsome in
her tastes, nor so averse to a graceful train, or a lady-like structure
of hair. In fact, she had many ideas of ideal young-ladyhood that would
have amazed and dismayed her twin, had they been known. Any one who knew
them well was no longer at a loss to know which was which, for while in
childhood they had been too similar to ever be distinguished, the coming
years brought different ideas to each, and left their print in looks and
manner. Kat was wildly rebellious at the thought of growing up; she
wanted to remain in the blissful days of short hair and dresses, when
she could race with anybody, jump a fence, climb trees, and in every way
be as boyish as she could, to pay up for being a girl. Consequently she
always had a fly-away, unsettled look about her, rebelled at the
lengthened dresses, insisted on wearing her hair in a flying braid,
wouldn't be induced to cultivate ease and grace, and altogether was as
wild and unconquerable on the threshold of fifteen as she had been in
the freedom of twelve. Kittie, on the contrary, had a decided love for
grace, and the ease of a cultivated young lady. She did her hair up in
various and complicated fashions, occasionally practiced with a train,
and had learned to bow with the latest grace and twist. She remembered
Ernestine's little graceful ways, and profited by the remembrance,
thereby driving Kat to the verge of desperation, by giving frequent
lectures on the necessity of sitting still gracefully, and walking
without a skip or jump every third step. With all their little growing
differences, they were just as devoted and inseparable as ever. Kittie
would sit and sew with a lady-like air, and a posy in her belt, while
Kat would lounge in the window-seat, and read aloud, or amuse them with
nonsense; or, if they went out on the pond, Kittie would wear her
gloves and ply her oar with an eye to grace, while Kat would, perhaps,
be encased in a sun-bonnet, or be bareheaded and row as if on a contract
to outdo the champion club in existence. In their work was the same
little mark of distinction, and so now-a-days it was very easy to tell
which was Kittie and which was Kat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account