by Elsie Lincoln Benedict
Available in 98 free installments
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These people are not flighty. They have their work, their time and their lives laid out systematically and do not allow trivialities to upset them. They take a longer time to deliberate on a proposed line of action, but once they have made a decision, adhere to it with much greater tenacity than any other type.
¶ People of this type are not fickle nor flirtatious. They love few; but once having become enamored are not easily turned aside. It is this type that remains true to one love through many years, sometimes for life.
¶ The Osseous are not prone to sudden outbursts of temper. But they have the unbending kind when it is aroused.
Never forgiving and never forgetting is a trait of these people as contrasted with the Thoracic.
The Alimentive avoids those he does not like and forgets them because it is too much bother to hate; the Thoracic flames up one moment and forgives the next; the Muscular takes it out in a fight then and there, or argues with you about it.
But the Osseous despises, hates and loathes?and keeps on for years after every one else has forgotten all about it. The "rock-bound Puritan" type, as stony as the New England land from which it gets its living, is always bony. The implacable father who turns his child away from home, with orders "never to darken his door again," always has a lot of bone in his structure. Those who refuse to be softened into forgiveness by the years are always of this type.
¶ It is difficult for the Osseous to "fit in." He is not adaptable and in this is once again the opposite of the Thoracic. It is impossible for him to adjust himself quickly to people or places.
Because he is unyielding, unbending and unadjustable he is called "sot in his ways."
He should not be misjudged for this inadaptability, however, for it is as natural to him as smoothness is to the Alimentive and impulsiveness to the Thoracic. He is made that way and is no more to blame for it than you are for having brown eyes instead of blue.
¶ "Single-track minds" are characteristic of this type. They get an idea or an attitude and it is there to stay. They think the same things for many years and follow a few definite lines of action most of their lives.
But it is to be remembered in this connection that this type often accomplishes more through his intensive concentration than more versatile types. While they follow many by-paths in search of their goal the Osseous sticks to the main track.
¶ "This one thing I do," is a motto of the Osseous. They are the least versatile of any type and do not like to jump from one kind of work to another.
They prefer to do one thing at a time, do it well and finish it before starting anything else. Because of this the Osseous stars in specialities.
¶ The man who likes many irons in the fire is never an Osseous. To have more than one problem before him at one time makes him irritable, upset and exasperated.
¶ The unchangingness which handicaps the Osseous in so many ways is responsible for one very admirable trait. That trait is dependability.
The Osseous is reliable. He can be taken at his word more often than any other type, for he lives up to it with greater care.
¶ When an Osseous person says, "I will meet you at four o'clock at the corner of Main and Market," he will arrive at Main and Market at four o'clock. He will not come straggling along, nor plead interruptions, nor give excuses. He will be on the exact spot at the exact hour.
In this he is again a contrast to the first two types. An Alimentive man will roll into the offing at a quarter, or more likely, a half hour past the time, smilingly apologize and be so naive you forgive and let it go at that.
The Thoracic will arrive anywhere from five after four to six o'clock, drown you in a thrilling narrative of just how it all happened, and never give you a chance to voice your anger till he has smoothed it all out of you.
¶ But the Osseous is disdainful of such tactics and you had better beware of using them on him. He is dependable himself and demands it of others?a little trait all of us have regarding our own particular virtues.
