Wars have been fought since the beginning of time, their first recordings in the bible. In America, many patriots have been willing to put their lives on the line for what they have believed in their hearts. Some of those brave souls were still boys or girls not yet of ...

If you have ever thumbed through a vintage magazine, with its colorful, full-page ads, you have seen the illusion of perfection. Adds for everything from a glamorous brand of cigarettes to a shiny new family sedan grace the pages, making the reader long for that perfect item.  In 1950, Inglis ...

Most of the parents in the neighborhood where I grew up were disciplinarians. Children were expected to be in their own yard by the time the streetlights came on in the evening. Chores varied by household, but all of us kids had them. Some pulled weeds and helped mow their ...

In early American schoolrooms the art of beautiful penmanship was more important than learning the proper spelling of words, but lessons in good moral character were of the most value. Students began by drawing straight lines over and over before moving on to the letters of the alphabet, and finally ...

Praising God in trial and tribulation is difficult, even for the grateful heart. Pain has a way of putting itself in the way of counting one’s blessings and remembering God’s former works. Yet it’s praise that raises us—spirit, soul, and body, above the fray, as the door opens for God ...

Remember the stories of how our parents or grandparents trudged through snow drifts, or thunderstorms, or beating sun,  uphill, to get to school each morning?  In some ways, attending school today is much easier that in times past. Many schools today are air-conditioned, dress codes tend to be less restrictive,  ...

When our father passed away, my sister and I went to choose a monument to be placed in our family plot. When the drawing was put in front of us, we knew that Dad had begun the designing of his own gravestone long before his death as our eyes fell ...

Before a closet full of clothing and a floor filled with shoes were the norm, before makeup and grooming supplies were here in abundance, the outward appearance mattered. When Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Patsy, was a small child in the late 1700’s, he took care to teach her to value her ...

Cleaning a home was quite a task in the old days. Women once used a wringer washer to clean their family’s clothes, spending much time wringing the clothes out through the wringer rolls at the top of the machine.  Wet clothes were hung on a backyard line when weather allowed, ...

It was a bullet from the gun of a brilliant, romantic actor that took the life of President Abraham Lincoln when he was just 56 years old. With the future of his country once again looking hopeful after the long Civil War, the president and his wife were enjoying an ...