Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-05-18
BARE BONES.
Bf MRS. TALBOT COKE.

later wears my path seems strewn with
bare bones, where once did lye faire
feshe," have little or no sympathy
from me, bnt yet / think that few OF
US can reach what is POLITICALLY called
the meridian of life without finding,
au cOntraire, bare bones dressed up
by centuries of habit and convention
alism to present a fair appearance. 1
hope l shall not be misunderstood if |
say family affection is q good example
Of q bare bonel l do not mean dissen-
SION in actual home circle, that is too
terrible a subject on which to touch
thus lightly-but L must own that L
really cannot see why we should be
supposed, ipsO fdctO, to be fonder of
relations in the selection of whom we
have had no choice whatever, than Of
the friend to whom We slowly but
surely give our hearts, our trust, and
confidence. Relationship in too many
cases, means a cloak for so-called plain
speaking, for unwelcome advice; 1t is a
moral fooistool on which a stunted soul
may stand unreproved, and pry into
the concerns and feelings of one with
whom, perhaps, it has nothing in COM
mon; in short, your relations Dldy be
your nearest "and dearest" but it is a
very bare bone to suppose they must
be SO.
A delightful instance of family
frankness lately afforded me much
amusement on the railway. Every time
the train pulled up with its usual dis
locating jerks, L heard some such sem
tence from one or other of my two fell
low. travellers -acidulated. looking wo-
men of a certain Gge-as, " Wasn't that
Just Ike Maria?" or, "Of course. yOu
know what Caroline always wasr and
at last, Just rs 1 reached my destina-
ton, came n jubilant duet of "But we
MI know what Fred ISL
Poor Fredl as | climbed the steep
stairs l pictured him, careless and
happy go luck, eHf0Ht periu, perhaps,
of self-righteous circle of relations;
yet who shall say he had not more of
the charity "Shich thinketh no evil"
than thos. who thus sat in Judgment
on the family?
The giving of presents, too, often
savors of "bare bones"-which after
all, can be tolerably translated by the
modern word, humbug- for, does a
Young woman of our acquaintance take
a ticket III the lottery we call marri-
age, We rush helter-skelter to buy
presents, and the larger the income of
her future tue more money, unreasOn-
ably shall We expend. Bat does an
''old mall" friend lose her remaining
parent and her quiet cosy home at one
blow, and so perforce "set up for her
self on a smaller income? Few indeed
are the friends who deem it an occa-
sion for offering useful gifts. Again,
with children, the only child of rich
relation will be loaded with costly TOYS,
the price of even one of which would
delight the impecuniOus family of
another to whom fortune has been a
nlggard.
Mourning, again, is very bare
bone from common sense point of
view. We all know there is, TO most
women at any rate, a sort of sad satis-
faction in it when one is really un-
happy, yet does death rob You of one
neither kith nor kin, yet near and
dear, the "friend that sticketh closer
than brother" you would be dubbed
$50 queer" $50 Affected" and If
young and pretty $50 improper" did
you even shut yourself up a while,
much less put on mourning. But lose
an aged relative, one you never saw
and only heard of as the terror and
blight of his domestic circle-and the
fear of what ''they would say''-al-
mighty They'll thy sway over many
minds is limitless-makes You pull
down the blinds, people call to 'in-
quire," mourning must be hurriedly
bought, invitations refused, the while
the bare bones merrily rattle.
Questionable" religion, charity, and
GO n+h.p ,h,,,,r g.,
display. Referring to the latter, | !
think even the well-known individual,
gibbeted by the poet as zone VITO
would reep and botanize upon his
mothers grave" cannot comYare with !
a society woman" who told me, with
the air, too, of one conferring useful
hint, that she ''pald n well knswn for
ist so much q quarter to aiirIyS keep !
fresh flowers on her ''mOther's grave"
Sure if such tributes must be paid at
all, it should be by loving hands, and !
with a heart aching with an everything |
sense OF all one has lost of tender love, |
of ready sympathy, not by a careles
hlreling, probably cracking music hall
jokes over the resting place sol
diSdnt mOurners pays him to decorate. !
A far more worthy tribute would be
to dedicate the quart, rly sum" to |
those 'in sorrow, need, sickness, or
any kind of adversity.'
The word adversely reminds me of
another type of 'bare bones" OF which
one hears the rattle when nine women !
out of ten attempt to add to their in |
comes by the use of such talent as
they possess.
One cannot feel the smallest sympr-
thy with the "decayed gentle-woman" 4,
of the time-wOrn story, who cried, !
Mullins, muffinsl" in almost whisper,
adding, "I hope nobody heard me-" |
Whereas, had she bought the loudest !
bell she could, and invented new cry !
which would bring everyone to their
one would admire her cour-
ge and energy.
But III too many case in which one
is asked t. lend helping hand, the
applicant says her ''relatIOns object to
her name being made publ;c;" these
presumably we'll to-do relatives should
really let their objections, where neces-
sary, take the form of n small annual
allowance.
The burning question of "Woman's
rights" troubles me but little, not half
as much as that OF "Woman's WRONGS"
but | own J should like to see such
as this ultra geutiliIy re-
placed by firm, vet qaiet and fem
mime, sense of independence and self
reliance, and bIried for ever in the
grave of all such bare bones. I