Hundred-Year-Old Pictures of Embroidered Collars and Jabots

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

Thursday, November 30, 1911: Today is Thanksgiving. We didn’t have such a terrible sumptuous repast either. I would have liked to have had a piece of a turkey gobbler and a dish of ice cream, but we were far from that. I sat at home all day doing miscellaneous jobs which I didn’t relish any too well. Rufus went up to McEwensville this afternoon, to get some of her ever-increasing finery made which she is going to glow in at the institute. One is a piece of embroidery which I presented to her last Christmas but as she at that time was too poor to buy the material to finish it and most too indolent to make it even if she had it. It has lain unmolested till today. There! I’ve filled up the remainder of this page.

DSC05029.crop — Embroidered collar and jobot. Source of photos: Ladies Home Journal (October, 1911)

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

In this entry Grandma refers to her sister Ruth as Rufus. Ruth was a teacher at a nearby one-room school house and was probably preparing to attend a teachers’ institute (professional development meeting) in a nearby town.

Grandma may have given Ruth an embroidered collar and jabot.

Thanksgiving in 1911

Today Thanksgiving is never this late in November. A hundred years ago it was held on the last Thursday in the month. And, in 1911, the very last day of the month was a Thursday.

In 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt made Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in the month by proclamation. Federal regulations enacted in 1941 made the change permanent. A very late Thanksgiving shortened the Christmas shopping season—and the change to the fourth Thursday was seen as a way to provide an economic boost to the economy.

Repast

Grandma used the term repast in her diary entry. It is an archaic word for a feast.

One Hundred Year Old December School Bulletin Board Ideas

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

Wednesday, November 29, 1911: Had sort of a little entertainment this afternoon. We got out of school early. Jake was going away so that was the whole reason. I can not give my myself up to a vacation of two days.

Bulletin Board Directions

Going Home. This takes three rolls of white crepe paper, one roll each of yellow, lavender and green, with ten sheets of gray matboard for the trees and fence, which are touched up with black tinting fluid. Orange tissue paper will furnish the hospitable glow seen through the windows. Pink tissue paper over yellow crepe paper is used to produce the flesh tint for the lad’s face. (Ladies Home Journal, December, 1911)

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

In 1911, Thanksgiving was on November 30, and apparently the high school students were let out of school early on the day before the holiday.

I wonder if primary students on the first floor of the school building were also left out early. Grandma’s friend Rachel Oakes was the primary teacher. Might Rachel have stayed after school to prepare for the following week? Maybe she took down a Thanksgiving-themed bulletin board picture and put a winter one up.

The December, 1911 issue of Ladies Home Journal had an article titled “Christmas Scenes to be Made of Paper: A Suggestion for the Schoolroom Bulletin Board” that had some great examples.

Bulletin Board Directions

The Sleighride. This requires two rolls of gray crepe paper, three of white, and a roll each of red and green, together with four sheets of gray matboard, two bolts of narrow red ribbon for the sun’s rays, black tinting fluid and a little white cotton. The horse is cut from the matboard and tinted with color obtained by wetting a sheet of brown tissue paper.

Bulletin Board Directions

Christmas Carolers. Black and gray matboard, crepe paper, yellow, and orange tissue.

Good Grade in Algebra!

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

Tuesday, November 28, 1911: Exams are over thank goodness. I made ninety in Algebra, instead of the one I made last month. I must make some good resolutions and study better next month for I have much need to study. Came near missing a day at school.

Recent photo of the building that once housed McEwensville High School.

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

Yeah!! Grandma got 90% in algebra!! In October she’d only gotten 68%. Her studying over the previous couple days apparently paid off.

It’s silly to vicariously celebrate a minor success that occurred a hundred years ago, yet I get so involved in the diary story that it somehow seems appropriate to feel pleased when Grandma had a good day.

The Sisters Had a Fight

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

Monday, November 26, 1911:Had exams today. Wonder what some of my marks are. Rufus and I had a squabble tonight over such a trifle. She pummeled me so hard on the head that I had a headache for a while. I guess school marms can lay it on sometimes.

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

Whew . . . it sounds the two sisters had a terrible fight. In the diary Grandma sometimes–—especially when she was annoyed or angry– referred to her sister Ruth as Rufus.

In November 1911, Grandma was 16 years old and Ruth as 19. Ruth was a teacher (i.e., school marm) at one of the one-room schools near McEwensville. What could have possibly angered them so much?

100-Year-Old Crocheted Caps

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

Sunday, November 26, 1911: Went to Sunday School this morning. Carrie and I went for a walk this afternoon, which was the around about way to Watsontown and back. We went up to McEwensville this evening to attend the Thanks offering.

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

It sounds like Grandma and her friend Carrie did a lot of walking a hundred years ago today. I wonder if they wore crocheted caps. The November, 1911 issue of Ladies Home Journal had lots of great cap pictures.

How to Make Popcorn in a Frying Pan

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

Saturday, November 25, 1911: Just exactly one month yet. I must begin to be good and oh so nice. I was terrible busy this forenoon. This afternoon I studied a bit and popped some popcorn. My first attempt resulted in half or about a third of the contents jumping out of the pan, but the next time I was more successful.

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

Hmm, I wonder how the popping corn managed to jump out of the pan. People used to pop corn in a heavy frying pan, but they generally put a cover on the pan.

To make popcorn heat vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan until it is hot. Use a medium heat or flame.

Put some popcorn in the pan. (Use about 1/3 cup for an average sized pan.) Cover pan.

Hold about ½ inch above the burner and shake the pan. You don’t need to shake it rapidly; it’s okay to shake the pan relatively slowly.

Shake until the corn stops popping, and then remove from the heat and open lid.

Over the Hill and Through the Woods to Grandmother’s House We Go

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

Friday, November 24, 1911: Instead of having classes all day today we took an hour off and had something more interesting which was reciting and the like. I said a recitation that I said last year. Of course it was recognized at once. I wish we would have something like this every month at least. It relieves the monotony.

Recent photo of the house that Grandma lived in during her later years. When I was a child I lived on a farm on the other side of the hill from this house.

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

In 1911 Thanksgiving was on the very last day in the month—November 30.

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family—sharing memories and telling the old family stories. So on this Thanksgiving Day in 2011, I’d like to share my memories of Thanksgiving when I was a child. I’m thinking back to a time about midway between when Grandma kept her diary and now.

Each Thanksgiving, a little after noon, my family piled into our blue Dodge Polara—and Dad drove us the mile or so across the hill to Grandma’s house while my brother and I sang at the top of our lungs:

Over the hill and through the woods

To Grandmother’s house we go.

The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh

Through the white and drifted snow.

Over the hill and through the woods

To Grandmother’s house we go.

For this is Thanksgiving Day.

When we got to Grandma’s house my brother and I rushed inside to see all of our cousins. I told the rest of my Thanksgiving day story in a previous post. Click the link below to read it.

Thanksgiving in the Den

You might also enjoy reading (or re-reading) the memories of other descendents of Grandma.

Stu: Peanut Butter Cookies, Practical Jokes, Farm Cats, Etc.

Anne Marie: Porch Railings, Flowers, Reading, and More Practical Jokes

Eleanor: Brown Butter Macaroni

Carl: Butchering, Sausage, and the Light Plant

Harold: “Whispering to Myself”

If any of you have memories of Grandma you’d like to share, let me know and I’d be happy to post them.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!