18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Went to Sunday School this morning. Dear old Margaret came along home with me to spend the day. Tweetie came home with Ruth. Got Ruth to take a picture of Margaret and me. The first one she spoiled and in the next one Peggy moved, so I don’t know yet how my pictures are going to pan out.
I just want to add that I was so fortunate this morning as to get an automobile ride.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What an awesome day! Today our roads are so jam-packed with cars that it almost boggles my mind that riding in an automobile was super-special a hundred years ago.
—
If I squint a little, I can almost see three giggling teens trying to stand still while Grandma’s sister Ruth took the pictures.
And, I can almost see Grandma trying not to show her frustration when Ruth ruined the first picture. (I bet she didn’t hide her annoyance very well).
—
Margaret (Peggy) may refer to either Margaret G. or Margaret Bryson. Both were friends of Grandma’s. Tweetie was a nickname of Helen Wesner.
A Hundred Years Ago 
Today we make a big deal of it if we ride in a buggy or in a wagon 🙂
It is interesting how the unusual today was the norm a hundred years ago; and vice versa.
I love that Grandma talksabout an automobile, sound so much better and more facyfull than ‘car’ ;0)
You’re right! The use of the word “automobile” does make it seem more special.
Wow–she had a lot to say today! My grandmother remembered when the first car came through her little town in upstate New York. The kids were let out of school to watch!
Wow, it’s amazing that cars were so unusual back then that they let kids out of school.
Isn’t it amazing how much how world has changed in 100 years?? Wonder if this was Grandma’s first automobile ride?
My mom was born in 1910, and I remember her telling me about the first car her dad bought…
No, it wasn’t the first time that she ever wrote in an automobile. On May 30, 2012 she wrote:
” . . . This afternoon we went over to Watsontown accompanied by another girl friend. We had the pleasure of getting an automobile ride. It was the first time I was ever in one and consequently never had experienced a ride. We had a good time.”
https://ahundredyearsago.com/2012/05/30/5412/
Wow, she had a lot going on today!
She sure did!
My grandparents saw the invention of cars, planes and even lived to see man reach the moon. We’ve had a lot of inventions since but these things in my grandparents time seem to be the fastest growing changes of all time!
It seems like change is the one constant. A twenty-something friend told me that she was getting older because she could remember things from long ago–like when her family didn’t have cell phones. 🙂
That’s great! Not many girls had an automobile ride those days! It is mindboggling to think how much technical development our grandparents witnessed during their lives.
It is amazing how much change has occurred. I also think about how modern highways have all been built in the last hundred years.
What a thrill, wind blowing thru your hair, dust everywhere because there’s no blacktop…Love that car
I love that car, too! It looks like so much more fun to ride in than our Camry.
Tweetie?
Anyone with a nickname of Tweet (or Tweetie) had to have been a fun person. I wonder if she had a high voice.
I previously did a post on Tweet that I you might enjoy:
Tweet “Tweeting” in 1911:
https://ahundredyearsago.com/2011/01/13/tweet-tweeting-in-1911/
How exciting for her. I can imagine how she must of felt. The other day I was in traffic and going oh so slow, about 15 miles an hour and realized back in the old days that would have probably been the norm with a car and even slower on horseback.
It’s hard to image back when 15 miles an hour was the norm. I guess that things–by necessity–were slower paced back then.
Not that long ago I was alone on a back road and I don’t know why I thought about the cars when they first came out, but I drove 15 miles on hour and boy is that slow! Minutes before I was wishing I could go faster and the speed limit is 40! We sure do live in a fast past world.
The automobile ride made the diary, I’m sure that was the talk of the day.
It’s interesting how what was the talk of the day back then, has been routine for the past 70 or 80 years. The shift to automobiles from horses and buggies must have taken place over a relatively short period of time.
I remember my first trishaw ride. Although it was not an automobile, I was pretty excited. Your grandma must have been really thrilled!
You’re got me curious now about what it was like to see your first trishaw ride. Trishaws look like fun (for the riders).
I wish we could see those pictures, even if they weren’t any good!