Brothers and Sisters

My older brother Chris celebrates a birthday this week. Most of the advice I found about brothers and sisters was about sibling rivalry, which we don’t have at all (except that my website is so much better than his, don’t you think?) but I did track down this little blurb about trying getting along with younger […]

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Why Girls Go to College

Just got back from a jaunt to Southern Ohio to visit some relatives and learn more about our Moore and Patterson ancestors. We visited the old family farms, saw the house where Grandma Bailey was born, and tried to remember who was who on the family tree. Not easy! One favorite ancestor: Mae Patterson, who […]

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He’s a Bust With Dust!

Q Dear Miss Abigail: How do you train your husband to help around the house? I’ve asked him, pleaded with him, threatened him, but he still can’t “see” the mess around him and will not take the initiative to clean it up. We both work out of the home with competitive salaries, and I feel […]

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Cooking for Two

I swear that the color in this image is true to the original. Do you think I could adjust that brussel-sprout green? Never. 1965: Cooking for Two THE HONEYMOON IS OVER; the die is cast. You and you only stand between your husband’s and your own starvation. Either you surrender to the can-opener method of […]

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Why Aren’t You Married?

Q Dear Miss Abigail: What are some good responses for a single woman to use when she is constantly hassled about her non-marital status, for example, “You are so young, and beautiful, why aren’t you married?” I have found that my own personal response of “I like my independence, dammit!” has proven inadequate. Please help! […]

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Forever Lonely ~ Or Not?

Q Dear Miss Abigail: Will I stay lonely forever? Signed, Maris A Dear Maris: I cannot say whether you shall remain lonely forever, my dear, for I do not know you or your situation. But Dorothy Dix’s words on the dateless girl (from a chapter in How To Win And Hold A Husband) offers some things […]

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Those Who May Not Marry

This week’s selection is from a book published by Dr. Warren Bowman, who was, at the time, pastor of a church in Miss Abigail’s home base, Washington, D.C. You’ll be relieved to find out that Home Builders of America (as I read in the introduction) “wholly avoids ‘pornographic paragraphs,’” and that “no one, indeed, would have […]

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Pleasures of a Single Bed

This selection comes from Live Alone and Like It: A Guide for the Extra Woman, written by Marjorie Hillis. I think I need to do a bit more reading about the “extra woman,” don’t you agree? 1936: Pleasures of a Single Bed It is probably true that most people have more fun in bed than anywhere […]

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