"Are the mothers of men who rule the world found among the loose-robed women, or among the women who dress in closer-fitting apparel?"

--Sarah Josepha Hale, Godey's Lady's Book (April 1865)

***

Hale's question becomes even more bizarre when I consider what else was happening in April 1865: Grant and Lee's meeting at Appomattox, Lincoln's assassination.

In Specimen Days, Walt Whitman recalled: "The day of [Lincoln's] murder we heard the news very early in the morning. Mother prepared breakfast—and other meals afterward—as usual; but not a mouthful was eaten all day by either of us. We each drank half a cup of coffee; that was all. Little was said. We got every newspaper morning and evening, and the frequent extras of that period, and pass'd them silently to each other."

But you're probably asking yourself: was Mother wearing loose robes or closer-fitting apparel?