18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, October 5, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Am now the possessor of a troublesome cold.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma, get well soon! Colds aren’t any fun. All the corn husking that you’ve been doing on cold, damp days probably made you more susceptible to the germs.
Do you have a sore throat? Cough drops might help.
A Hundred Years Ago 
Thanks, brings back good memories of Luden’s Cherry cough drops.
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
“a troublesome cold” Can you imagine an eighteen year old saying that today? Not many would go to Sunday School today either!
I think your grandmother and mine would have got along well 🙂
Sounds like we both had wonderful grandmothers.
Good old Luden’s–do they even make those anymore? I also remember Sucret’s cough drops . . . .
The Luden’s Company still has a website.
http://ludens.com/
I also remember Sucret’s and how they were individually wrapped in a little tin box. And, I remember Parke-Davis Throat Discs with its licorice flavor and the cardboard box that slid open.
Luden’s was the ONLY brand of cough drops in our house! (Oh, and I agree with Sharon on both points.)
We also always had Dr. Smith’s Cough Drops when I was a kid.
We used to have Luden’s Wild Cherry coughdrops and for stronger coughs there were Vics cough drops. Not near as good tasting!
We used to think that the worse a cough drop tasted the more it would help. 🙂
Ludens have been around forever it seems!
According to the Luden’s website Luden’s Cough Drops have been around for “over 130 glorious years.”
http://ludens.com/
“Am now the possessor of a troublesome cold”… I do delight in your use of language Miss Muffly. Get well soon…
I agree! The wording was great.
found in confectionary stores too! $0.05! I wish we could have 1913 prices everywhere for just one month!
It seems like there once was a fine line distinguishing candy from cough drops. . . though even today, if I have a sore throat, I might use a butterscotch candy or Wether’s if I don’t have any cough drops.
and you can buy Hall’s at gas stations or corner stores…
I remember Ludens so clearly I can taste them.
So can I.
It seems like those were good. I don’t remember if they worked, but they had a nice flavor.
The good taste would make me forget my sore throat (at least for a few minutes).
I love the promises of “pleasing dependable voice” in the advertisement!
The ad writer outdid him- or herself with that line. 🙂
When I first read the entry, it sounded like she got a cold from going to sunday school! haha! maybe someone there was sick. 🙂
Thanks for sharing how you read the entry at first. It’s fun to think about the different possible interpretations. 🙂
When I was a kid I used to eat Luden’s Wild Cherry Cough Drops like candy. I can still taste them! They were so good but probably did nothing for a cough or cold except make you salivate! LOL
They were good!
If only a cough drop (taken early enough) could cure a cold! 🙂
I wish. . .
I’m sold! I want that pleasing, dependable voice!
I want a pleasing, dependable voice, too. Isn’t advertising wonderful?
we don;t have this brand here. the cherry flavoured ones would coat our tongues red 😀
Yes, my memory is that they coated my tongue red. 🙂
No, I didn’t have a sore throat this past week but am recovering from a nasty virus. This is definitely the time of year these things start. I think you’re right that the hard physical exertion your Grandmother underwent with the farm work lowered her resistance.
Fall always seems like the worst season for colds and viruses. Hope you feel better soon!
Mmm, those cherry cough drops. We’d eat them like candy.
They were good!–though I always wished that they won’t leave red stains on my teeth and tongue.