THE BENNETTS

   It is said that Uncle Charlie Fiske once told her a story that      she considered a little off-color. When he noticed her embar-rassment he quickly added, "I think you told me that story,       Mrs. Bennett."
   She was a person of strong principles and prejudices. She disliked Calvin Coolidge because his picture appeared in the   paper with his jacket off and his suspenders showing — an undignified costume for a President of the United States. What would she think of President Lyndon Johnson who exhibited        his stomach to news photographers so they could take a picture    of a scar from a much publicized hernia operation?
   She couldn't tolerate ridicule on certain subjects. She gave up going to church in Wayland because Mr. Brannigan, the minister, started a Memorial Day address with what he considered a joke and what she considered sacrilege — namely that on such occa-sions the mention of G.A.R. always reminded him of "grub         and refreshments".
   The day Aunt Celin, my mother's sister died, I went with my parents to call on my grandmother who was in very low spirits, especially when the discussion turned to funeral arrangements.
"Better not have Mr. Brannigan," my father warned. "He          might say the wrong thing." This was an appropriate remark as    my grandmother's tears suddenly gave way to laughter.

   I had seven Bennett aunts and uncles and I knew all but       Uncle Billy who died before I was born. Uncle Ned was the   oldest and being a bachelor lived in my grandmother's house.      He had great musical talent and studied in Europe under a

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