February in a Nutshell
I am continuing my reading of the 1946 Farmer’s Almanac that my daughter gave me for Christmas. 1946 is when I was born, and it’s interesting to see what grown-ups were thinking about at that time. Of course, there was a lot about the ending of World War II—the dates that are noted in February 1946 have to do with the great battles on the Pacific Front—Guadalcanal in 1943, Eniwetok in 1944, Bataan in 1945, Corregidor in 1945.
One happy surprise was that, besides Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays, the Almanac singles out Susan B. Anthony’s birthday on Friday February 15. She was born in Massachusetts in 1820 and died in 1906, so only forty years earlier than the Almanac’s date. I expect many adults in 1946 were alive when Susan B. Anthony was alive (which gives me shivers; Susan was an amazing person. If you ever have a chance to visit her home and museum in Rochester NY, definitely do so. http://susanbanthonyhouse.org/index.php ). Even more people would have been alive in 1920, when Susan’s lifelong struggle for women’s suffrage was finally won in the U.S. She didn’t live to see it, but never doubted it would come.
“Failure is impossible” she said.
The 1946 Almanac advises farmers in February to be nice to their neighbors and help with clearing each other’s snowdrifts: “A touch of neighborly kindness goes a long ways—and there’ll be more storms coming.” The Almanac goes on to encourage people to keep their fireplaces, furnaces and stoves clean and safe because “more farms are burned out this month than any other—and chiefly through carelessness or lack of foresight.”
Snow cleared, and fires burning safely, the Almanac then suggests that families read aloud to each other: “have a thought of an evening…for the books you have not had time for. Let Mother and the boy and the girl share your pleasure with an occasional hour of reading aloud. Don’t be ashamed of the old favorites: Dickens, Jules Verne, Longfellow, Mark Twain, etc., but don’t overstrain their credulity with too large a dose of Cooper. Have the youngsters introduce books and magazines of their own.”
There you have it. February in a nutshell.
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