16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, February 29, 1912:I was quite conscious of the fact that this comes only once in four years. This day I mean. We had a visitor at school today. Two I may say. One was the county superintendent. By good luck he wasn’t there, when we had a hard study to go through.
A hundred years ago the country superintendent probably came down this road with a horse and buggy as he entered the McEwensville. The road wasn't paved back then.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It’s interesting that it was also a leap year a hundred years ago. (If I had thought about it, I would have been able to easily figure out that both years were leap years, but somehow I was surprised.)
Counties were the intermediary unit between the state and the schools a hundred years ago in Pennsylvania. There were not large school districts back then. Many of the consolidated districts—including the Warrior Run School District that now includes McEwensville— were formed in the 1950s.
The superintendent of schools for the county probably visited McEwensville High School because of the mid-year change in teachers. McEwensville High School got a new teacher just ten days prior to the writing of this entry. The superintendent probably came to see how the new teacher was doing. I hope that he passed with flying colors!
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.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, February 27, 1912: Quite uneventful. Ruth went up to Oakes this evening, but I staid at home and studied my lessons.
Devil's Food Cake (Hundred-Year-Old Recipe)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since this diary entry is self-explanatory, I’m going to go off on a tangent.
I recently bought a 1912 cookbook off EBay. My daughter glanced through it and noticed that the devils food cake recipe seemed very different from today’s recipes.
So we decided to compare a devils food cake made with a modern recipe with one made using a hundred year old recipe.
In the early 1900s angel food cakes and devils food cakes were seen as the polar opposites—one was white and light; the other dark and heavy.
The cake made with the hundred year old recipe was a dense chocolate spice cake. The recipe called for mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes ?!?!), cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts. It reminded us of gingerbread–though ginger was not an ingredient. I’ve never eaten anything exactly like it—but the cake was very good and I’d make it again.
100 Year-Old-Recipe
Calumet Devil’s Food Cake (Chocolate Spice Cake)
2 cups flour
2 level teaspoons Calumet (or any other brand) baking powder
2 level teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup warm mashed potatoes
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13 X 9 X 2 inches. Melt butter and chocolate. Combine with all of the other ingredients except nuts. Beat until well-blended. Stir in nuts.
Pour into pan. Bake approximately 45-50 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
Adapted from the recipe in Calumet Baking Powder Reliable Recipes (1912)
The modern devils food cake recipe that my daughter made was from my Betty Crocker Cookbook. The recipe called for red food coloring—but otherwise seemed similar to other modern chocolate cake recipes. The cake was awesome.
Devils Food Cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 teaspoons soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon red food color
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13x9x2 inches, or two 9-inch or three 8-inch round layer pans. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low-speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high-speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
Bake oblong about 40 minutes, layers 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.
(Recipe suggests using chocolate or cream cheese frosting.)
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, February 26, 1912: Went through the snow to school this morning and came home through the rain. One good things I didn’t have to walk this evening. Received my report card today. I knew what my marks were for I had caught a glimpse of them some time previous. Mine has the downward tendency this month. Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
How did Grandma know what her grades were going to be prior to receiving the report card? Was she again snooping around the teacher’s desk?
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, February 25, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. It was exceedingly mean walking though, but managed to get through it by going the railroad.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
A hundred years ago cookbooks often contained a hints and helps section. Here are tips in a 1912 cookbook for removing mud from clothes:
Mud Stains (Colored Goods)—Let the mud dry thoroughly, and then remove as much as possible by brushing. When fully dry, cover with a mixture of salt and flour and place in a dry place.
If the stains are extensive place the garment in a large paper flour sack with a quantity of salt and flour well mixed, shake vigorously, tie up the sack, and allow it to hang behind for a few days. Afterwards shake out the dust and press.
Mud Stains (White Goods)—Dip the mud stains in kerosene before putting them in boiler. Add kerosene to the boiling water.
Calumet Raking Powder Reliable Recipes (1912)
Whew, can you imagine using kerosene to remove stains? . . . and I don’t have a wood or coal stove that I can hang the bag of stained clothes behind.
The methods for removing mud have really changed over the years. I’d just put some Shout stain remover on the spot and throw it into the laundry.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, February 24, 1912: I fixed over a dress for myself this afternoon. It was one of my Aunt Annie’s cast-offs. I had one trying time a getting the waist and skirt together. I have it fixed now and tried it on to see the result. I’m not so much pleased with my sewing. It seems rather short in the back.
Click on photo to make larger.
Annie Van Sant is the woman in white in the center of the photo.
John and Sarah Derr Family. Taken about 1900. L to R. Front Row: John, Annie Van Sant, Sarah. Back Row: Miles, Fuller, Alice Krumm, Elmer, Phoebe Muffly, Judson, Homer. Phoebe (Derr) Muffly was the mother of Helen (Muffly) Swartz.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I suppose that Annie was relatively well-to –do since she was a doctor’s wife—and had some relatively nice cast-offs to give her niece.
It’s amazing how people often remodeled clothes a hundred years ago. Clothing was much more expensive back then—and people often remodeled outfits instead of buying new items.
A hundred years ago, women’s shirts were called waists. Based upon the wording of this diary entry the top part of a dress apparently was also called waists.
An aside–I apologize for using this photo several times over the past year or so. I wish that I had more photos of my ancestors–but I have very few so sometimes need to use the same photo a couple times to illustrate entries.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, February 23, 1912: It was so awful muddy this afternoon. Didn’t hardly know how I would get through mud and everything else coming home from school.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Mud was a huge problem a hundred years ago. Neither the streets in McEwensville nor the rural roads that Grandma needed to walk to get home from school were paved.
A muddy Main street in McEwensville in the early 1900s. Photo from Watsontown, McEwensville, and Delaware Township: A real Photo Postcard History by Robert Swope, Jr. (Photo used with permission)Recent photo showing the same section of Main Street. The paved road is a definite improvement on muddy late winter days.
