My Advice: Don't Lie About Your Age

According to an article in yesterday's WSJ, Marie Manning is considered the first American newspaper advice columnists. Writing for the New York Evening Journal as "Beatrice Fairfax," her column debuted in 1898. Manning later recalled, "If I had been 10 years older, I might have hesitated over the Frankensteinian monster I was invoking. But 20 is a fearless age."

Here is Marie in 1880 with her father and several maternal relatives; she is 10 years old. In 1870, she is with her parents and some of the same relatives; she is 1 year old.

Known as witty and astringent, Manning must have been enjoyed supressing a laugh when she said, "If I had been 10 years older...."