16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 27, 1912: I helped Ruth decide a question this morning. She was invited out to spend the evening and staid all night. I decided that she should accept the invitation and so she did. But the other part is that I will have her milking tomorrow morning.
Recent photo of the barn that Grandma milked cows in a hundred years ago.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
There are trade-offs to everything. In this diary entry Grandma was weighing the benefits and “costs” of her sister Ruth staying overnight at a friend’s house.
Benefit
Peace and quiet: Grandma got a quiet evening alone without Ruth. She shared a bedroom with her sister, so she also would have had the room to herself.
“Cost”
More work: In exchange for the peace and quiet Grandma had to milk more cows than usual in the morning.
Filed under: Other Tagged: | 100 years ago, 1912, family history, genealogy
Maybe she was also thinking about when she wanted to go spend the night at a friends.
I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re are probably right. If she does her sister’s chores, her sister will probably reciprocate.
Love it. Real life with a teenager, for sure!
Sometimes I’m glad that I’m way past my teen years.