Studied the Wrong Things!

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

Wednesday, February 7, 1912:  I certainly was a blundering dummy in my examinations today. I happened to get in General History four questions that I hadn’t looked up before. It sometimes seems that you study the very things you are least liable to get.

Recent photo of the building that once housed the McEwenvsille School. I can almost picture an upset teen--who was mad at herself for missing a couple questions--- slowly descending the stairs from her second floor classroom and heading out into the cold to begin the long walk home.

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

How frustrating to have studied the wrong things!

Did the teacher ask for arcane facts about minor Civil War battles or generals?? . . .  or the disputed election of 1876 between Hayes and Tilden? ?. . .or the Panic of 1837?? . . . .or . . .??

One thought on “Studied the Wrong Things!”

  1. Pingback: Will Be Glad When Exams Are Over « A Hundred Years Ago

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