[To "Voices from 19th-Century America"]

"Gail Hamilton" was Mary Abigail Dodge (1833-1896), an American essayist. In pieces humorous, satirical, and sentimental, Dodge covered domestic subjects, the American Civil War, and women's rights; Gala Days is a collection of eight essays -- six of which appeared originally in the Atlantic Monthly -- on topics serious and frivolous: the family canary, a journey through New York and Canada, young children and women with loved ones fighting the War. She includes a scathing look at cultural expectations of motherhood.