The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-14
JNEARTHING THE
 FAMILY SKELETON

And whats her history? A blank, my lord. She never told her
 love,
 But let concea1nent, like worm Tn
 the bud,
 Feed on her damask cheek; she p1ned
 in thought,
 And with a, green and yellow melan-
 cho1y She sat like Patience on monument,
 smiling at grief
 How often we have heard people say, well. as far back as I can rernen ber' we have had no family skeletons in our cIosets'' Like as not they have missed them in their own households. But who can tell, among the single who are intent upon marriage, what h1d- den mysteries may be eloseted in the future home which as yet they are un- aware of?
 It is not the cleverest boast for a young man to make known in hints that back of the proud, wealthy. we'll known family, that every one has heard Of and not a fey have env1ed, a skeleton is hidden which, if found out, would shock the community
 The popular family may have many close friends who do not comprehend the meaning of such an assertion, and for a time pay no heed to the aston ishing reports that are going round. The young man who listens to the breath of scandal and ta1ebearing from another, instead of appreciating the more that there was being ferreted out for his benefit some wonderful knowledge, pulls out his cigar rest lessly. lights is signif1cant ntly and strides to the outer door in dazed sort of way.
 He concludes to keep as far away -,- h in tention was of the ttunearthing' kind. no matter how much he had valued his friendship in bygone days. lest he in turn be made a victim of some shall low version he might conjure up. To listen and give credenee to such--re- ports is to remember and have them added to for days, yes. even for years to come.
 Do those who only speculate that all is not as it should be within the walls of some fine home consider that in blaming the whole family for per- haps one skeleton in their midst they are bringing mistrust and unfavor- able impressions upon innocent ones under the parental roof? How was any person wise enough to judge that the petted young son nf 30, who had reck1ess1y squandered 9 fortune, with all the faults in the calendar, and fled from the kind parents and home. was a wanderer and the secret haunting of many. an aching heart he might have blessed and uplifted2
 The dear, sweet maidens, young sis ters, with hearts gentle, loving and tender, always believed in his repent ance. and vowed he was innocent. if the world would but believe it. They remained single, championing his cause with bowed heads. In the depths of their souls they bent under their family skeletons. With such de voted girls, a, blight of this kind Is apt to last past the best years of their lives. Had they been wooed regard7 less of what they war~ innocent of and won the protection of a good hus- band to shield them from soothsayers, their hearts would have gone out to hirn alone, and the picture of mem ories not stamped within them, bur shut out of their existence by love s strivings.
 There is another family skeleton to who, without an atom of pity, counts her conquests and reiections by. the 1score, as she hippant1y did the beauti- full roses that she tossed brokenly to l the winds At last she drifted out on 1 1ife's ocean, the miserable wreck of a once promising, beautiful belle. I A wife too often hurries to conflde te some bosom friend, sobbing1y, of a quarrel she had with a husband she adored up to an hour ago. What to dc 1 is managed severely for her. Then the home comes near being broken up leaving a skeleton in the closet. Un- 1 fortunately many innermost secrets l leak out and it is harder to live them over just as people may be than many dream of.