“My Boy” and I started out fourteen years ago, he fresh from a bank job, and I, from the schoolroom. We knew almost nothing about farming, but felt as truly “called” as Abraham did in the days of old. “They’ll be back in town within two years,” our friends prophesied. But we’re still here. After seven years of stock-share renting…

This essay first appeared in the January 1924 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine–100 years ago this month. There is no time like winter time to turn the human heart toward home. Summer days are days of roaming, when the hills call and the woods beckon and there is invitation everywhere to be up and away. And home is a resting…

100 years ago this month, a magazine published an essay written by Booth Tarkington for a column called “I Remember a Christmas.” Booth Tarkington was an extremely popular author in his day who won two Pulitzer Prize for his works. Tarkington titled this particular essay, “The Christmas That Means Most.“ Looking ahead When we were children, we began looking to…

Somehow, people managed to survive summer in the old days without air conditioning. It’s incredible to realize that people have had the luxury of modern air conditioning for only a small snippet of history. We weak souls living in the 21st century nearly cease to function. We recently had a power outage that lasted 4 days. A neighbor told us…