_BROTHER BONES._
ROSE accepted her uncle's offer, as Aunt Myra discovered two or three
days later. Coming in for an early call, and hearing voices in the
study, she opened the door, gave a cry and shut it quickly, looking a
good deal startled. The Doctor appeared in a moment, and begged to know
what the matter was.
"How _can_ you ask when that long box looks so like a coffin I thought
it was one, and that dreadful thing stared me in the face as I opened
the door," answered Mrs. Myra, pointing to the skeleton that hung from
the chandelier cheerfully grinning at all beholders.
"This is a medical college where women are freely admitted, so walk in,
madam, and join the class if you'll do me the honor," said the Doctor,
waving her forward with his politest bow.
"Do, auntie; it's perfectly splendid," cried Rose's voice, and Rose's
blooming face was seen behind the ribs of the skeleton, smiling and
nodding in the gayest possible manner.
"What _are_ you doing, child?" demanded Aunt Myra, dropping into a chair
and staring about her.
"Oh, I'm learning bones to-day, and I like it so much. There are twelve
ribs, you know, and the two lower ones are called floating ribs, because
they are not fastened to the breast bone. That's why they go in so
easily if you lace tight and squeeze the lungs and heart in the--let me
see, what was that big word--oh, I know--thoracic cavity," and Rose
beamed with pride as she aired her little bit of knowledge.
"Do you think that is a good sort of thing for her to be poking over?
She is a nervous child, and I'm afraid it will be bad for her," said
Aunt Myra, watching Rose as she counted vertebræ, and waggled a
hip-joint in its socket with an inquiring expression.
"An excellent study, for she enjoys it, and I mean to teach her how to
manage her nerves so that they won't be a curse to her, as many a
woman's become through ignorance or want of thought. To make a mystery
or a terror of these things is a mistake, and I mean Rose shall
understand and respect her body so well that she won't dare to trifle
with it as most women do."
"And she really likes it?"
"Very much, auntie! It's all so wonderful, and so nicely planned, you
can hardly believe what you see. Just think, there are 600,000,000 air
cells in one pair of lungs, and 2,000 pores to a square inch of surface;
so you see what quantities of air we _must_ have, and what care we
should take of our skin so all the little doors will open and shut
right. And brains, auntie, you've no idea how curious they are; I
haven't got to them yet, but I long to, and uncle is going to show me a
manikin that you can take to pieces. Just think how nice it will be to
see all the organs in their places; I only wish they could be made to
work as ours do."
It was funny to see Aunt Myra's face as Rose stood before her talking
rapidly with one hand laid in the friendliest manner on the skeleton's
shoulder. Every word both the Doctor and Rose uttered hit the good lady
in her weakest spot, and as she looked and listened a long array of
bottles and pill-boxes rose up before her, reproaching her with the
"ignorance and want of thought" that made her what she was, a nervous,
dyspeptic, unhappy old woman.
"Well, I don't know but you may be right, Alec, only I wouldn't carry it
too far. Women don't need much of this sort of knowledge, and are not
fit for it. I couldn't bear to touch that ugly thing, and it gives me
the creeps to hear about 'organs,'" said Aunt Myra, with a sigh and her
hand on her side.
"Wouldn't it be a comfort to know that your liver was on the right side,
auntie, and not on the left?" asked Rose with a naughty laugh in her
eyes, for she had lately learned that Aunt Myra's liver complaint was
not in the proper place.
"It's a dying world, child, and it don't much matter where the pain is,
for sooner or later we all drop off and are seen no more," was Aunt
Myra's cheerful reply.
"Well, I intend to know what kills me if I can, and meantime I'm going
to enjoy myself in spite of a dying world. I wish you'd do so too, and
come and study with uncle, it would do you good I'm sure," and Rose went
back to counting vertebræ with such a happy face that Aunt Myra had not
the heart to say a word to dampen her ardor.
"Perhaps it's as well to let her do what she likes the little while she
is with us. But pray be careful of her, Alec, and not allow her to
overwork," she whispered as she went out.
"That's exactly what I'm trying to do, ma'am, and rather a hard job I
find it," he added, as he shut the door, for the dear aunts were
dreadfully in his way sometimes.
Half an hour later came another interruption in the shape of Mac, who
announced his arrival by the brief but elegant remark,--
"Hullo! what new game is this?"
Rose explained, Mac gave a long whistle of surprise, and then took a
promenade round the skeleton, observing gravely,--
"Brother Bones looks very jolly, but I can't say much for his beauty."
"You mustn't make fun of him, for he's a good old fellow, and you'd be
just as ugly if your flesh was off," said Rose, defending her new friend
with warmth.
"I dare say, so I'll keep my flesh on, thank you. You are so busy you
can't read to a fellow, I suppose?" asked Mac, whose eyes were better,
but still too weak for books.
"Don't you want to come and join my class? uncle explains it all to us,
and you can take a look at the plates as they come along. We'll give up
bones to-day and have eyes instead; that will be more interesting to
_you_," added Rose, seeing no ardent thirst for physiological
information in his face.
"Rose, we must not fly about from one thing to another in this way,"
began Dr. Alec; but she whispered quickly, with a nod towards Mac, whose
goggles were turned wistfully in the direction of the forbidden books,--
"He's blue to-day, and we must amuse him; give a little lecture on eyes,
and it will do him good. No matter about me, uncle."
"Very well; the class will please be seated," and the Doctor gave a
sounding rap on the table.
"Come, sit by me, dear, then we can both see the pictures; and if your
head gets tired you can lie down," said Rose, generously opening her
little college to a brother, and kindly providing for the weaknesses
that all humanity is subject to.
Side by side they sat and listened to a very simple explanation of the
mechanism of the eye, finding it as wonderful as a fairy tale, for fine
plates illustrated it, and a very willing teacher did his best to make
the lesson pleasant.
"Jove! if I'd known what mischief I was doing to that mighty delicate
machine of mine, you wouldn't have caught me reading by fire light, or
studying with a glare of sunshine on my book," said Mac, peering
solemnly at a magnified eyeball; then, pushing it away, he added
indignantly: "Why isn't a fellow taught all about his works, and how to
manage 'em, and not left to go blundering into all sorts of worries?
Telling him after he's down isn't much use, for then he's found it out
himself and won't thank you."
"Ah, Mac, that's just what I keep lecturing about, and people _won't_
listen. You lads need that sort of knowledge so much, and fathers and
mothers ought to be able to give it to you. Few of them _are_ able, and
so we all go blundering, as you say. Less Greek and Latin and more
knowledge of the laws of health for _my_ boys, if I had them.
Mathematics are all very well, but morals are better, and I wish, _how_
I wish that I could help teachers and parents to feel it as they ought."
"Some do; Aunt Jessie and her boys have capital talks, and I wish we
could; but mother's so busy with her housekeeping, and father with his
business, there never seems to be any time for that sort of thing; even
if there was, it don't seem as if it would be easy to talk to them,
because we've never got into the way of it, you know."
Poor Mac was right there, and expressed a want that many a boy and girl
feels. Fathers and mothers _are_ too absorbed in business and
housekeeping to study their children, and cherish that sweet and natural
confidence which is a child's surest safeguard, and a parent's subtlest
power. So the young hearts hide trouble or temptation till the harm is
done, and mutual regret comes too late. Happy the boys and girls who
tell all things freely to father or mother, sure of pity, help, and
pardon; and thrice happy the parents who, out of their own experience,
and by their own virtues, can teach and uplift the souls for which they
are responsible.
This longing stirred in the hearts of Rose and Mac, and by a natural
impulse both turned to Dr. Alec, for in this queer world of ours,
fatherly and motherly hearts often beat warm and wise in the breasts of
bachelor uncles and maiden aunts; and it is my private opinion that
these worthy creatures are a beautiful provision of nature for the
cherishing of other people's children. They certainly get great comfort
out of it, and receive much innocent affection that otherwise would be
lost.
Dr. Alec was one of these, and his big heart had room for every one of
the eight cousins, especially orphaned Rose and afflicted Mac; so, when
the boy uttered that unconscious reproach to his parents, and Rose added
with a sigh, "It must be beautiful to have a mother!"--the good Doctor
yearned over them, and, shutting his book with a decided slam, said in
that cordial voice of his,--
"Now, look here, children, you just come and tell _me_ all your worries,
and with God's help I'll settle them for you. That is what I'm here for,
I believe, and it will be a great happiness to me if you can trust me."
"We can, uncle, and we will!" both answered with a heartiness that
gratified him much.
"Good! now school is dismissed, and I advise you to go and refresh your
600,000,000 air cells by a brisk run in the garden. Come again whenever
you like, Mac, and we'll teach you all we can about your 'works,' as you
call them, so you can keep them running smoothly."
"We'll come, sir, much obliged," and the class in physiology went out to
walk.
Mac did come again, glad to find something he could study in spite of
his weak eyes, and learned much that was of more value than any thing
his school had ever taught him.
Of course, the other lads made great fun of the whole thing, and plagued
Dr. Alec's students half out of their lives. But they kept on
persistently, and one day something happened which made the other
fellows behave themselves for ever after.
It was a holiday, and Rose up in her room thought she heard the voices
of her cousins, so she ran down to welcome them, but found no one there.
"Never mind, they will be here soon, and then we'll have a frolic," she
said to herself, and thinking she had been mistaken she went into the
study to wait. She was lounging over the table looking at a map when an
odd noise caught her ear. A gentle tapping somewhere, and following the
sound it seemed to come from the inside of the long case in which the
skeleton lived when not professionally engaged. This case stood upright
in a niche between two book-cases at the back of the room, a darkish
corner, where Brother Bones, as the boys _would_ call him, was out of
the way.
As Rose stood looking in that direction, and wondering if a rat had got
shut in, the door of the case swung slowly open, and with a great start
she saw a bony arm lifted, and a bony finger beckon to her. For a minute
she was frightened, and ran to the study door with a fluttering heart,
but just as she touched the handle a queer, stifled sort of giggle made
her stop short and turn red with anger. She paused an instant to collect
herself, and then went softly toward the bony beckoner. A nearer look
revealed black threads tied to the arm and fingers, the ends of threads
disappearing through holes bored in the back of the case. Peeping into
the deep recess, she also caught sight of the tip of an elbow covered
with a rough gray cloth which she knew very well.
Quick as a flash she understood the joke, her fear vanished, and with a
wicked smile, she whipped out her scissors, cut the threads, and the
bony arm dropped with a rattle. Before she could say, "Come out,
Charlie, and let my skeleton alone," a sudden irruption of boys all in a
high state of tickle proclaimed to the hidden rogue that his joke was a
failure.
"I told him not to do it, because it might give you a start," explained
Archie, emerging from the closet.
"I had a smelling-bottle all ready if she fainted away," added Steve,
popping up from behind the great chair.
"It's too bad of you not to squawk and run; we depended on it, it's such
fun to howl after you," said Will and Geordie, rolling out from under
the sofa in a promiscuous heap.
"You are getting altogether too strong-minded, Rose; most girls would
have been in a jolly twitter to see this old fellow waggling his finger
at them," complained Charlie, squeezing out from his tight quarters,
dusty and disgusted.
"I'm used to your pranks now, so I'm always on the watch and prepared.
But I won't have Brother Bones made fun of. I know uncle wouldn't like
it, so please don't," began Rose just as Dr. Alec came in, and, seeing
the state of the case at a glance, he said quietly,--
"Hear how I got that skeleton, and then I'm sure you will treat it with
respect."
The boys settled down at once on any article of furniture that was
nearest and listened dutifully.
"Years ago, when I was in the hospital, a poor fellow was brought there
with a rare and very painful disease. There was no hope for him, but we
did our best, and he was so grateful that when he died he left us his
body that we might discover the mysteries of his complaint, and so be
able to help others afflicted in the same way. It did do good, and his
brave patience made us remember him long after he was gone. He thought I
had been kind to him, and said to a fellow-student of mine: 'Tell the
Doctor I lave him me bones, for I've nothing else in the wide world, and
I'll not be wanting 'em at all, at all, when the great pain has kilt me
entirely.' So that is how they came to be mine, and why I've kept them
carefully; for, though only a poor, ignorant fellow, Mike Nolan did what
he could to help others, and prove his gratitude to those who tried to
help him."
As Dr. Alec paused, Archie closed the door of the case as respectfully
as if the mummy of an Egyptian king was inside; Will and Geordie looked
solemnly at one another, evidently much impressed, and Charlie pensively
remarked from the coal-hod where he sat,--
"I've often heard of a skeleton in the house, but I think few people
have one as useful and as interesting as ours."