18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, September 21, 1913: Went to Sunday School all afternoon. It rained nearly all afternoon. Ruth and I were in quite a pickle about getting home. She had on her bestest dress. The questions were solved when a nice boy brought us home in his buggy.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma and her sister Ruth usually walked the mile or so home from Sunday School. It would have been a miserable walk if they’d had to tramp home in the rain.
But all’s well that ends well. . . hmm. . . Who was the nice boy who brought them home?
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ooohhh… I hope it’s a love interest for Miss Muffly 😀
Does the plot thicken?
I can’t imagine a long walk in your best dress! Luckily for the young man who came to their rescue in the buggy!
I love how she uses the word “bestest.”
They were “in a pickle”, I haven’t heard that saying in years 🙂 Annie
“Bestest” was something my Mom used to say. What a nice boy in that buggy….. 🙂
Hmmmm…..inquiring minds want to know!!!
🙂
I was wondering the same thing!
It would be interesting to know who the nice boy was. It could be someone younger :-), as you didn’t need a drivers license for a buggy.
Did the nice boy offer or did they ask the nice boy, I wonder?
I’ve never thought of buggies still being used in 1913 when my father and his brother were both born. I guess I just didn’t think about it.
I think that it was an era when a shift was taking place from horses/buggies to cars–but in rural areas horses were still the norm. Twice in the diary Grandma has mentioned riding in a car–and both times she made it sound like a really special event. The most recent time was on Aug. 31, 1913 (the Aug. 31, 2013 post) when she wrote:
“. . . I just want to add that I was so fortunate this morning as to get an automobile ride.”
https://ahundredyearsago.com/2013/08/31/a-ride-in-an-automobile/
Yesterday {the 21st 100 yrs later} was also a rainy day. We were driving home from Danville and went the scenic route that takes us past Helena’s home town and it was pouring. I thought about her walking as I past the railroad tracks that would take her to Watsontown and thankful I had my car to keep me dry. Glad that a nice boy offered them a ride in his buggy….maybe your grandfather??
Sounds like there was similar weather in 1913 and 2013. It’s hard to imagine how people regularly walked the railroad tracks a hundred years ago to avoid unpaved roads on days when they were muddy.
I am still amazed she would walk all the way to Watsontown – but back then they were a hardier bunch than we are today.
It sure seems like people walked a lot more years ago. I suppose that it took a lot of time (and was a hassle) to get a horse and buggy ready to make a trip–so that it was easier to just walk if someone only wanted to go a mile or two.
true – while we think it is romantic to go for a horse and buggy ride we don’t have to hook everything up and unhook everything when we get back. I do think life was more laid back then, and a nice long walk a way to enjoy the day.
The buggy ride, I can imagine. I’ve had a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. What’s harder to imagine anyone is attending an ALL afternoon Sunday school.