17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, October 20, 1912: Oh dear me, was helping the pater today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The tone of the diary entry suggests that Grandma didn’t enjoy helping her father. What might he needed help with on a Saturday in late October?
Husking corn?
Gathering and storing potatoes for the winter?
Picking apples?
Bringing pumpkins, squash, and other winter vegetables in from the field?
Helping repair a piece of broken machinery?
Helping clean manure out of the stables before the weather got too cold?
???
Some Previous Posts on Fall Activities
A Hundred Years Ago 
Cleaning the manure our of the stables would be my least favorite chore! 😉
Some things that need to be done on farms are NOT fun!
exactly, which is why I admire farmers then and today. Not to mention it taught them responsibility and hard work. I am also sure that the positive of living on a farm outweighed the bad.
I wonder if your grandmother liked to write? Or is she doing this daily journal as a sort of promise to herself. Her brevity is so teenager-y, and I’ve mentioned that I love her droll way with words. But she certainly leaves a lot to the imagination!
She does seem very self-disciplined and writes something even on days when she doesn’t really feel like it. I think that I ready somewhere that people often keep diaries for self-reflection.
Sounds like the best education a girl can get, no boundries and no stereotyping on a farm, HA
I agree–I like your attitude. 🙂
Thanks Sheryl 🙂