Jan. 7, 1915/ Fort Pierre, South Dakota (An enclosure to her Mom)
Bachelor Bess: The Homesteading Letters of Elizabeth Corey, 1909-1919
Battle of the Bones
How many bones in the human face?
Fourteen when they're all in place.
How many bones in the human head?
Eight, my child, as I've often said.
How many bones in the human ear?
Three in each, and they help to hear.
How many bones of the human spine?
Twenty-six like a climbing vine.
How many bones the shoulders bind?
In each arm one: two in each forearm.
How many bones in the human wrist?
Eight in each if none are missed.
How many bones in the palm of the hand?
Five in each, with many a band.
How many bones in the fingers ten?
Twenty-eight, and by joints they bend.
How many bones in the human hip?
One in each; like a dish they dip.
How many bones in the human thigh?
One in each and deep they lie.
How many bones in the human knees?
One in each, the kneepan, please.
How many bones in the leg from knee?
Two in each, we can plainly see.
How many bones in the ankle strong?
Seven in each, but none are long.
How many bones in the ball of the foot?
Five in each as the palms are put.
How many bones in the toes half a score?
Twenty-eight and there are no more.
And now, all together, these bones may fix,
and the count, in a body, two hundred and six.
And then we have, in the human mouth
of upper and under, thirty-two teeth.
And now and then have a bone, I should think
That forms a joint, or to fill up a chink.
A sesamould bone, or a Wormain, we call.
And now we may rest, for we've told them all.
