Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-11-18
What Uncles and Aunts
Mean to Childhood

A CHILD Is certainly unfortunate in
the extreme If 1t does not possess
uncles and aunts or does not possess
the right kind of uncles and aunts. for
those of the wrong kind are worse han
none. There are aunts and aunts and
uncles n uncles. and children, who
are the shrewdest judges OF human ma
ture in the world. are quick to realize
it A name may mislead them until
an u comes along. but half an hour
In her company Is quite enough to con-
vince them whether h II Of the right
sort or merely an "auntie" they have
to put up with.
In the old days a name was almost
enough-Aunt Letitia meant a dragon,
| Aunt Lefty a dear, Aunt Gwendolin
meant q good-gracious -what-dirty-
hands" sort Of a person; Aunt Wendy.
some one who would tell them stories
when they went to bed.
But names nave changed. though the
characteristics of aunts remain the
same. Aunt Bessie. in spite Of her
name, proves to be the mother of a lot
Of uncomfortable cousins of whose SUI
periority she IS always boasting and
| WIlCSc part II L ulWdyS tdhAlS "ACAA
they come to the house.
When aunts such as these have come
and gone cherished dolls are subjected
to a lot Of rechristening. and small
| boys begin to think that aunts are
| rather an unnecessary invention. When
Aunt Katherine pays a visit Joy Is
rampant. They love Aunt Katherine
because she Is worthy of their affec-
l tfnrn ThAU nhnr hn~ u1grh$Aok witch
they are anxious to go with her every
where, the girls struggle desperately
to Sit on her knee. the boys hug her
until she II half cholsed. Altogether
she Is an ideal aunt but the secret of
her sway over the Juvenile mind is
really simplicity itself. She is a wo-
man with a child's heart that Is all.
She can look at things from the View
point Of her nieces n nephews. Her
long frocka and smartly coifured hair
are mere a,cidents Of time. She Is
nice" becauue she has not forgotten
her " childhood or entirely parted
with It
Among uncles her counterpart Is Un-
Gle Dick. Uncle John may be digni-
ned and standomisn: Uncle Henry may
DO interested only in the conversation
Of mothers and fathers and turn an
unheeding ear to the overtures Of the
children. but Uncle Dick II the chill
dren's ehum.
Mothers and fathers may think he
has coms to sec them. but the children
know better. They capture him on the
doorstep with whoops Of triumph. they
monopolixs hin until bedtime. and jol-
~ dreams Of him come to the little
heads when they are laid On the pillow.
The ideal uncle may be fat or thin.
He may be tall or short but he IL the
childreR's ideal He bites he baby's
dngsrs. he surrenders his clean collar
to grubby hands he piek-a-backs and
crawls and climbs, he barks like 4 dos
and news like a cat and spins a top
like q genius-in short, does everything
that u demanded Of him and . whole
lot that isn't
He 10 = big boy, q Peter Pan who
has grown up in spite OF himself. All
the girls Intend to marry him when
they are old enough. Just a. all the
boys r sworn ultimately to marry
Aunt Katherine. and In each case their
instincts are entirely justified
The perfect uncle and aunt are sim
ply splendid cousins on q large scale
Their hair may be tinged with gray
n uncle may have lots OF scrubby