18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, July 12, 1913: I had to help load wheat today. That is something I never did before. Not any too good at it either.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The day prior to this entry Grandma wrote about how the boy her father hired to help with the farm work had suddenly quit and run away only four days after his arrival.
Grandma’s father probably was short-handed –and needed extra help. I bet that Grandma was ticked that she needed to help with a hot, dusty, tiring chore that she’d never done before.
Note about the drawing used to illustrate this post: This picture of harvesting wheat was part of an advertisement for flour in Ladies Home Journal. To see the entire advertisement, go to this previous post:
A Hundred Years Ago 
I wonder here the kid went???
I don’t believe I would have wanted that job either. Dust and mess. Do you think she had a nice headscarf to keep the wheat and dirt out of her hair?
That sounds like an unpleasant chore. I’m betting Grandma wished that little boy hadn’t run away!
The farm needs the boy back or get another boy.
Farming required much physical labor and I’m sure it was hard work for all involved.
A very pretty drawing. I spent the summers of my youth behind a hay baler, on the wagon, loading bales… very familiar territory! 😉
She must have been exhausted–not just physically but emotionally and mentally, too.