The Real Women of 'Yesteryear'

As a child, I loved to dress up in costumes and make-believe I had barely enough to survive. I played Little House on the Prairie or I played Oregon Trail. I played “Alaska.” I was a Depression-era scamp hitching a ride on a train like Natty Gann. I was on the Titanic and it was going down. Always an orphan, never a bride. If my friends or younger cousins wanted to play “princess” or “pop star” or “fairies,” the answer was, “No.” Where was the conflict? Let’s be stuck on a raft in the middle of an ocean. Let’s be accused of witchcraft like The Witch of Blackbird Pond.