RAMPANT INFLATION, shortages of nearly every necessity made the day-to-day struggle at home increasingly difficult. A dollar was not worth what a quarter had been, Abigail reported. “Our money will soon be as useless as blank paper.” Bread, salt, sugar, meat and molasses, cotton and wool, had become dear beyond measure. Farm help, help of any sort, was impossible to find. Yet she managed—scrimped, saved, wove her own wool, made the family’s clothes—determined not only to stay free of debt, but to make improvements. She would do her part in her way, as a patriotic duty but also because it was
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I love the emphasis in this book on Abigail. She rose at 5 every morning, churned her own butter, wove her own cloth, made everyone’s clothes, and also knew huge amounts of poetry by heart. She dealt with all the horrific contagious diseases that were prevalent then, got herself and her children “inoculated” against smallpox (a very dangerous procedure). She bravely handled the death of one baby and the stillbirth of another. She and John were also very anti-slavery, an advanced moral position back then.
