Comments on: She Had a Question, 1921

By: m&m

m&m — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:39:26 +0000

Also, when I was typing it in, I googled “moderate oven” and the usual conversion is 350°F (180°C) but, thanks to Clark’s mention of pound cake, I looked at an old-fashioned recipe for pound cake which suggests cooking at 300°F for an hour and a half.

Yay. You answered my questions.

I’m still choking on the notion of consuming a quart of buttermilk a day. Blech.

I’m tempted to try the crepe paper idea, just for kicks.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:39:56 +0000

Don’t toss it at a duck.

If you do, he’d better.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:21:35 +0000

But, what about that stupid, tired feeling that strikes at almost any hour of the day or night? What’s the cure? Turning back the clock a few decades?

Speaking of turning that clock back, am I the only one who read Mabelle’s name and had to fight off competing visions of the telephone company and “Michelle”?

About the “Pound” cake–I know why it’s called that, but it sounds like it’d weigh a ton. Don’t toss it at a duck.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:49:20 +0000

Bruce, you just need to take a quart of buttermilk a day — no more stupid feeling!

Maurine, I’m guessing that Catherine means that when you’ve already accepted a dinner invitation that says “Dinner will be served at 6:00,” you’re expected to show up at the door at a quarter to six — not that that’s the first instant your poor hostess has a clue whether you’re coming or not. But I’m only guessing … the past is a very strange place …

By: Maurine

Maurine — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:32:39 +0000

I love these answers, but like Ardis, it would be great if we had some of the questions. Was Ann M. complaining because the five musicians had so many of their own compositions in the hymnal? What prompted Viola to ask about the correct time to respond to an invitation? And did I read that answer right that you didn’t need to respond until fifteen minutes before the specified time? For all of the new frugality standard today, the ability to change the color of our shirts every day by the use of crepe paper water should be taught in every Relief Society and Young Women.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:10:34 +0000

That stupid, tired feeling which Cynthia experiences daily after dinner [which I believe we now called lunch] sounds very familar. Although I’ve not hear the word stupid used that way before.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:04:44 +0000

How fun! Thanks, Researcher!

By: Researcher

Researcher — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:46:18 +0000

The recipe for Keepa Fruit Cake posted already.

As suspected, it is a very rich cake. (If you couldn’t tell by the pound of butter!)

I’m not sure why it changed “citron” to “citrus” and I may have been a bit low on number of servings, since it estimates one serving as 180 grams (rather a large serving of cake) with 639 calories, 32 grams of fat and 52 grams of sugar.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:16:01 +0000

I like that, too, Hunter. It’s as though she treats every question with respect, because she knows it matters to the girl who wrote in, regardless of how [un]important the question may be on the cosmic scale. Maybe that’s why they kept asking questions for so long.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:06:15 +0000

One of the things I love about these answers is how deftly the author goes from the superficial to the profound, but with no apparent contradiction. In one paragraph we have instructions for clapping after a dance or how to remove “brown spots” on the skin, and then, bam, we get a morsel of wisdom about beauty (“Cosmetics, creams, and lotions are not the essentials to health and beauty”) or a wonderful saying about marriage (“Remember dear, you are marrying his family in him”).

Love it. Thanks.