“Early to bed and early to rise has been my motto,” said J. H. Sowder. “Added to that I have been temperate, regular in my habits, and avoided things that might injure my health.”
Brothers as Like as Two Peas.
Leslie and Hallie Woodcock are brothers, who have the entire marine corps at League Island, near Philadelphia. They are as remarkable “twins” as ever made any one gasp, and, after eight months, their officers and fellow marines of Company 17 cannot tell them apart.
Leslie and Hallie are seventeen years and twenty years old and enlisted from their home in South Carolina. At enlistment they were promised that they would never be placed in separate companies. Not long ago a disgusted captain was for assigning them to different companies. They smiled and told him of their enlistment agreement.
In reading the list of those detailed for various police duties in the mornings, the company officers merely mention the name of Woodcock. They realize that one blond[{65}] young twin will report for duty. Further investigation is useless.
“I’ve done a pile of stuff for you, old boy,” said Hallie to his brother. “Remember the time——”
“I know you stole my girl about a month ago,” replied Leslie. “Thought I was solid. But she never knew the difference.”
“Maybe we haven’t got some girls up in town buffaloed,” grinned Hallie. “When we get paid we toss a coin to see who is to spend his money first. The one that wins goes uptown and sees the crowd. Our salaries aren’t fat and they don’t last forever, but when the first one of us begins to run low, the other one steps into his shoes, and then our citizen friends think that there is only one of us and that one is there with considerable dough.”
Each of the boys holds in his voice the smooth drawl of the South. One can’t tell the difference between the tones. There is something uncanny in the similarity of the two smiles. Their lips go back in exactly the same fashion and four eyes twinkle alike. They smile often, too, for to them the resemblance is life’s one grand joke. Each weighs 149 pounds; wears an eight shoe, a 14-3/4 collar, and the same size hat.
One or two of the men have discovered that one of the twins has a small piece chipped from one of his front teeth.