Motherhood is always an act of courage.

And in the absence of facts, myth rushes in, the kudzu of history.

As always, an educated woman was a dangerous woman.

I'm a sucker for lost worlds. I was nostalgic even as a child. I was happiest in my hometown library in Adams, Mass., where nothing seemed to change.

For a few thousand years, women had no history. Marriage was our calling, and meekness our virtue. Over the last century, in stuttering succession, we have gained a voice, a vote, a room, a playing field of our own. Decorously or defiantly, we now approach what surely qualifies as the final frontier.

Motherhood is always an act of courage.

Ancient history is oddly short on incorrect omens.