17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, August 10, 1912: It didn’t rain this afternoon; it poured. Our front porch was a sight, sod covered it tonight. Ruth went up to Bryson’s on the train. Had to help her get ready. And now we’re here all alone, just we three. Seems so quiet and rather lonesome.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
With a drought over much of the country this year, rain sounds wonderful (even if Grandma was less than enthusiastic about it). Did the wind somehow blow grass or weeds up on the porch?
The tracks for the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad went along the edge of the Muffly farm. Ruth probably got on the train at a nearby feed mill. There was a whistle stop there.
It’s funny how Grandma gets so frustrated with Ruth—yet almost immediately misses her when she goes somewhere. I guess that’s just the way things go with sisters.
Why does the diary entry refer to three people being at home? It seems like there should have been four: Grandma, her mother, her father, and her little brother Jimmie.
I really missed my older sister when she went away to college. You sometimes don’t know how much someone means to you until you are away from them.
Why three at home? Would her father be out working?
Her father was a farmer and I won’t think that he’d have wondered too far from home. Though I read an article in a 1911 issue of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer magazine that every farmer should take vacation–and that he should be sure to take the wife.🙂
https://ahundredyearsago.com/2011/09/07/every-dairyman-should-take-a-vacation-and-be-sure-to-take-the-wife/
Sheryl, I should have been a bit clearer. I meant out working in the field or in the barn. Maybe just the three of them were in the house.
Got it now–thanks for explaining.
I find this fascinating and fun to read. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the nice comments. It’s always wonderful to hear when someone enjoys this blog.
Family relationships can surely be perverse🙂 Maybe she forgot to count herself?
You might be right. Your suggestion makes a lot of sense.