A Hundred Years Ago

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

Saturday, April 12, 1913:  Did some house-cleaning this morning.

Ice Box

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

Maybe Grandma cleaned the ice box.

Here are  the directions in a 1913 book for cleaning the ice box:

Care of the Ice-Chest (Ice Box)

Once a week wash the walls, sides, shelves, and every corner with cold water, borax, and any sweet pure soap, rinse with clear water and wipe dry. The shelves may be taken out and scalded, but must be chilled and wiped dry before they are returned. If anything is spilled, wipe it up at once, and be sure each day that there is no refuse bits of food or berries lying about.

A good scalding is not necessary very often if the chest is kept clean.

It is best to keep everything covered; it is imperative that milk and butter should always be covered, and, if possible, kept in a separate apartment.

Do not keep food too long, to spoil and sour, and thus scent up the ice-box.

A neglected ice-chest is a menace to the life and health of the whole family. A well-ordered household should always mean a sanitary refrigerator. Keep the box full of ice, as refrigeration checks the germs.

One should be as particular in caring for an ice-chest during the winter months as in the summer-time. Keep a saucer of powdered charcoal standing in the ice-box. It will absorb all odors and keep the air pure. When opening a refrigerator that has been closed for a long time, burn for an hour a small-sized sulphur candle, then cleanse thoroughly with warm soapy water and dry perfectly, exposing to air and sun if possible. It is most important to keep the ice-chest wholesome and sweet.

Remember that ice is apt to be dirty, and it is wise to watch the receptacle for the ice, that there be no leaves or anything collected there to decay or to clog the pipe. This pipe or the pan beneath should never be allowed to get slimy, as slime is a danger signal.

It is also important that the door be kept closed; otherwise the temperature will rise and the ice will melt rapidly.

Housekeeper’s Handy Book (1913) by Lucia Millet Baxter

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

Friday, April 11, 1913:  I got a regular call down at school today. Made me rather mad to think I did such a thing as to deserve such a raking. Am busy making out an outline.

This is a recent view of the second floor of the building that once housed the  McEwesnville School.  A hundred years ago today, Grandma probably looked in anger out this window and wished she was not sitting in this classroom–

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

Good grief—What did Grandma do now?

Behavior (or to use the old-fashioned term—deportment) still seemed to be an issue. Grandma was having a difficult last few weeks of school.  She wrote several diary entries about her struggles with behavior, but provided few clues to exactly what she did.

Here’s a recap of Grandma’s diary entries over the past 16 days which address her behavior at school:

Teacher gave the school a lecture, but it was really meant for me. I don’t think what I did was so bad, but I guess I won’t do it again. I might catch it right there. . .

March 26, 1913

.

Don’t have my lessons out very well for tomorrow, but anyhow, I’m not going to get them out tonight.

March 30, 1913

.

Got my report card today. Had quite a fall in deportment. I must be really very bad . .

April 9, 1913

Of course, the class play was held on April 5, and Grandma was very busy with it—so maybe she had an excuse for not doing homework and other behavior issues.

Hmm. . . If a student today did the same things Grandma did, what would the teacher do?  Have standards for student behavior changed over the past one hundred years?

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

Sunday, April 6, 1913:  Went to Sunday School this afternoon.

The old McEwensville Baptist Church is long gone. It probably was once located somewhere on the lot that contains this yard and house.

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

Grandma probably was tired after the wonderful “splash” she’d made the previous evening in the class play.

Grandma wrote a  sentence this Sunday similar to one she wrote most Sundays—”Went to Sunday School this afternoon.”—though she often elaborated a bit more.

How was this Sunday similar or different from other Sundays? . . .

Was it a sunny day. . . or a cloudy one? Was it unseasonably hot. . . or unseasonably cold. . . or just a typical April day?

Was the road to McEwensville dry or muddy? If it was muddy, did Grandma wear galoshes or did she carefully try to avoid puddles?

Had church members seen the play the previous evening?—and did they praise her for her great acting?

What was the Sunday School lesson about? Was it interesting? . . . or boring?

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

Friday, April 5, 1913:  Tonight expect to stand before an audience and make them smile. I caught a fish this afternoon, and I didn’t’ go a fishing either.

—-

Our play went off pretty well, although we did make some slight mistakes. I cut quite a splash after I was all fixed up. We made over twenty dollars, but our expenses come out of that.

This is the stage in the McEwensville Community Center that Grandma would have stood on a hundred years ago today. Back then the stage was deeper and had curtains. In recent years, the back part of the stage was converted into a storage area.

I can almost picture the room  filled with an attentive audience sitting on rows of chairs.

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

Yeah!—the class play went well.  $20 from ticket sales doesn’t sound like much—but in 2013 dollars it would be the equivalent of about $500 today.

I bet Grandma in blackface, playing the role of Chloe the servant, made quite a splash—and that she enjoyed every moment of it.

—

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments yesterday. They really help me think about the issues.

When I read the diary, I was surprised that Grandma had once played a role in blackface. I was especially shocked because it brought back another very vivid memory. Let me tell you a personal story—

About ten years ago, right after I got my Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration, I interviewed for a faculty position at a university located in a rural area. If I had gotten the job, I would have worked closely with school districts in that area.

During the interview I was told that a nearby rural school district had recently held a school play where some of the white cast members had played the role of Blacks wearing blackface.

I was then asked, “If you worked with this district, what would you do?”

—-

I wish Grandma was still around so that together we could grapple with complex topics and issues. . .

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

Friday, April 4, 1913:  We practiced for the last time tonight. Am glad it is over. This certainly has been a late to get to bed week for me and I am beginning to feel the effects of it. They blackened me up tonight. I had an awful time a-getting it off my face afterwards.

The play was held in the McEwensville Community Hall

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

Whew, I find diary entries like this one really difficult—and hope that you can help me figure out the best way to think about it.

I want to feel happy that the dress rehearsal for the class play went well—but I also want to look at this entry within the larger context of social history.  Let me try to explain–

Grandma played the role of Chloe the servant in the class play. This entry confirms what I think many of us suspected—Grandma wore blackface when she played this role.

According to Wikipedia, blackface was a type of makeup that performers used in the late 19^th century and early 20^th century to “create a stereotyped caricature of a Black person.” It is very controversial; and “played a significant role in cementing and proliferating racist images, attitudes and perceptions worldwide, but also in popularizing black culture.”

A hundred years ago, blackface was accepted and audiences thought that blackface characters were funny. Grandma probably enjoyed hamming it up as she played the role of Chloe.  (Back in January when the play was cast, she’d written, “I am Chloe the negro servant. That was the part I really wanted.)

—-

The civil rights movement in the 1960s brought about so many positive changes. At that time Grandma would have been in her 60s and 70s. Did she ever think back to when she was a teen who played Chloe in blackface?. . .

—-

You may enjoy reading a previous post that I did on a related topic:

How Should Offensive Language in Diaries be Handled?

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

Sunday, March 30, 1913:  Went to Sunday School this morning. Went to Carrie’s this afternoon and went to church with Rufus this evening. Just got home a while ago. Don’t have my lessons out very well for tomorrow, but anyhow, I’m not going to get them out tonight.

McEwensville

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

I guess the week-end didn’t cure Grandma’s case of “senioritis”.

The previous Thursday she wrote:

Didn’t get home from practice till about half past eleven. So you see I didn’t get my lessons out either.

March 25, 1913

And, on Wednesday she wrote:

Teacher gave the school a lecture, but it was really meant for me. I don’t think what I did was so bad, but I guess I won’t do it again. I might catch it right there.

March 26, 1913

And, she was ready for the week-end on Friday:

Am glad this is the last school day for this week. I guess, I’ll be glad when school stops. Am counting the days.

March 28. 1913

—

Grandma sometimes referred to her sister Ruth as Rufus in the diary—especially when she was annoyed with her (though Grandma doesn’t seem annoyed in this entry, so I’m not sure why she wrote Rufus).

Carrie referred to Carrie Stout. She was a friend of Grandma’s and lived on a nearby farm.

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