“MOST EXTRAORDINARY.”
In the steamship City of Brussels, from New York, on the 2d of May,
1871, arrived a cargo which, in the words of Mr. Toole, may be termed
“most extraordinary.” Of all the curiosities ever unearthed by the
immortal Barnum, none can compare in the most minute degree with
Millie Christine, a daughter or daughters--whichever the fastidious
please--of the State of North Carolina. They first saw the light
nineteen years ago, and the mother is presumably the founder of that
gigantic Woman’s Rights Association in America, which has lately
made formidable inroads upon English society. Here we have a young
lady with one body, but two distinct minds, borne by two separate
heads. All the intelligent men who saw her at the Washington Hotel
the other day, can bear witness to the marvellous intelligence which
predominates in both brains; the conversational powers of the two
heads at once in communication with two different persons; upon
different topics, would sufficiently testify it. But the marvel did
not stop here; some of the sweetest duets in the language of music
were sung by a high soprano and a pure contralto. The notes issued
from two heads, and yet but one trunk supplied the _verve_. It may
now be added that this extraordinary trunk has two pairs of perfect
legs, terminating in symmetrical and very pretty feet, and that,
moving upon their pedal extremities, the trunk exhibits the very
poetry of motion. The polka, the mazourka, the schottische, are
delineated by these two pairs of pretty feet, in perfect time and
harmony, and the spectator is rewarded not by one smile, as in the
case of ordinary young ladies, but by two distinct smiles, winked at
you by two pairs of sparkling and roguish eyes, and thrown at you by
two different sets of the purest ivory that ever adorned the mouth
of an Indian Sultana. There are a lot of people here, or elsewhere,
always ready to strain at the smallest gnat and swallow the biggest
camel, who will doubtless put this young lady down as outside the
pale of ordinary humanity. If this prejudice should carry one so far
as to avoid her, they alone will be the losers. We can testify that
no person of ordinary intelligence can be in her company for half an
hour without yielding to the charm of her manner and the fascination
of her double smiles. She has you on both sides. If you remove your
head from one position you are immediately the victim of another
pair of eyes, which fix you and, in fact, transfix you. We candidly
admit that we were fascinated, and that we immediately lost sight
of the phenomenon and became overpowered by the influence of this
dual brain. The young lady will shortly hold _levees_ in London, and
the public of Liverpool may hope to see her by-and-by. The eminent
medical men of the United States testify that this remarkable freak
of nature is united at the lateral posterior portion of the pelvis,
while above that portion they are separated, have separate chests,
two pair of fully developed arms, but only one trunk. With the
double head they possess separate intellectual faculties as entirely
distinct as in the brain power of two different individuals, while
their faces indicate to a remarkable degree intelligence of a high
order and great amiability.