The Two Lorelis

Loreli has a book that she likes that has these great stories--one of which I remember from when I was a kid. I couldn't find the original story online but did find a synopsis of the story written by a pastor. When Loreli read The Two Carolines to me I said, midway through, "Huh. Maybe this story should be called The Two Lorelis..." and Loreli actually looked embarrassed!

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My favorite book to sell was Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories. One of his stories was called the two Carolines:

Caroline was a model student. If the teacher asked her to clean the blackboard she instantly sprung out of her seat to help. If the teacher wanted the waste paper basket emptied Caroline was only too eager to oblige. At school she was all peaches and cream.

At home, however, she was a totally different person. She complained and resisted everything her Mother asked her to do and her Mother was at her wits end. One day Mother asked Caroline to set the table for dinner. Caroline had other things to do. Mother told her that it had to be done right away. Oh, how she complained. She threw the plates on the table with the silverware following. Glasses had fallen over. Everything looked a disheveled mess.

When she was done Mother said, “Please let our guest in the living room know that dinner is ready.”

“Guest?” stammered Caroline as she noticed that the living room door was ajar. “The table doesn’t look good enough for guests.”

“Well, you should have thought of that before,” said mother. “Please go and bring our guest to the table.” 

Caroline walked slowly to the living room.

"Mother says would you please...oh, oh, oh,” stammered Caroline in surprise and shock. Sitting in the living room was her teacher from school. 

“What a surprise,” said her teacher. "I always thought that you were just as helpful at home as you were at school."

Then and there Caroline was determined to do better at home.