My dear friend, Margaret Wolf, will be 100 years old today (Wednesday). She is about to catch up with me. We spent a lot of time together when we were young. Her daughter and my daughter still are good friends. Happy birthday, Margaret!

I have a suggestion for our congressmen. For years, they have been receiving huge salaries and a lot of perks. What if they contributed some of their salaries to the government in this time of need? It would make us admire them and vote for them when the time comes. You know what President Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” I’m probably dreaming.

I read that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same date. I read articles about them in the March Smithsonian magazine. So it is their 200th birthdays this year. I always have been enraged that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on the same day. They had been strong competitors, and it happened on the Fourth of July. Is history trying to tell us something?

I’m reading a book about Emily Post. She was a woman who taught us how to be polite and mind our manners. Her story is very interesting but I’m afraid we, Americans, have forgotten her rules.

— norma hannaford