Private Room: Moved Sister’s Belongings to Another Room

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today: 

Thursday, June 29, 1911:  I moved Ruthie’s belongings into another apartment and she herself is going to occupy that room for a time. Don’t know how long it will be though. I’m so tired now, I can hardly stand upright.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

The meaning of this entry isn’t real clear, but my best guess is that Grandma and her sister Ruth normally shared a bedroom—but that for some reason (maybe a disagreement between the two) her sister moved to another room.  Old farmhouses often had lots of bedrooms so there probably was a spare (or guest) room available.

I’m surprised that this entry uses the pronoun “I”. I would have thought that carrying things to the other room would have been a joint effort (or that maybe Ruth would have moved herself). Instead it sounds as if Grandma was upset, so she moved her sister’s possessions when Ruth wasn’t there. It’s amazing that Ruth accepted the situation and didn’t immediately start moving things back.

Reading between the lines, I think that Grandma was pleased with the outcome and how she’d handled the situation.