19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, August 30, 1914: Went to Sunday School this morning. We made out to have our pictures taken this afternoon. Came home and got my dinner, and then started out. Met Carrie on the way. The pictures were taken at the home of our Sunday School teacher.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Source: Library of Congress
In my imagination I see an itinerant professional photographer with a tripod and huge camera taking the picture, but it could have just been a church member with a Brownie camera.
It’s difficult to tell how far in advance the photo shoot was planned. Was a professional photographer engaged to take the pictures? . . . or did a Sunday School class member suggest on the fly during class that morning that she had a camera, and they really should take a class photo?
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Carrie Stout was a friend of Grandma’s. She lived on a nearby farm that was situated midway between the Muffly farm and McEwensville.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, August 29, 1914: Ruth and I painted the interior of the schoolhouse where she is going to teach this winter. We made sort of a picnic out of it. Ruth had a friend along. We were well-dabbed with paint by the time we got through.
This building once housed Red Hill School. It was converted to a house many years ago.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What a fun way to get the schoolhouse freshened up for the new school year! Teachers sure had to wear a lot of hats back then. Grandma’s sister Ruth apparently not only needed to prepare lessons and teach—she also needed to organize a work crew to renovate the school building.
The previous day Grandma wrote that she went to town with her sister to help carry some things, and that she tore her dress on a pane of glass. I’m now wondering if the glass was needed to repair a window in the school.
I’m not sure where Ruth taught in prior years, but according to the History of the McEwensville Schools by Thomas Kramm she was the teacher at Red Hill School during the 1914-15 school year. It was a one-room school house at the south end of McEwensville.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, August 28, 1914: Ruth and I went to town on the train this morning. I was to bring some things home that she didn’t want to bother with. By good fortune I got an auto ride and tore my dress on a pane of glass I was carrying.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma—
Did you want to go to town with your sister Ruth to bring things home that she “didn’t want to bother with”? . . . .or did your parents make you go?
Somehow it doesn’t seem like an older sister should be able to force her younger sister to carry a pane of glass. It sounds dangerous. Did you break a window?
At least you got to go into town . . . and, you got an AUTO RIDE! What fun! Overall it sounds like an okay day—except for the torn dress. Is it repairable? . . . or is it ruined?
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This is the last of four days that Grandma combined into one entry. Since she didn’t write much, I thought that you might enjoy this hundred-year-old advertisement for Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 24 – Thursday, August 27, 1914:For lack of something to write.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This is the third of four days that Grandma combined into one entry. Since Grandma didn’t give me much to go on today, I’m going to share an old recipe for Crab Apple Muffins.
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A hundred years ago farm family meals in August were generally based on foods which were in season. I wonder whether Grandma’s family had a crab apple tree.
Crab apples are ripe here. A crab apple recipe that I especially enjoy is Crab Apple Muffins. The chopped crab apples give the muffins a wonderful, flavorful, tart zest.
Crab Apple Muffins
2 eggs
2/3 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups chopped crab apples *
Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine eggs, melted butter, vanilla, white sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl. Stir in baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add flour, and stir until combined. Add the chopped crab apples. Grease muffin tins, and then fill each muffin cup approximately 2/3 full with batter. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes approximately 24 muffins.
*Core crab apples before chopping, but do not peel.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 24 – Thursday, August 27, 1914: For lack of something to write.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write anything specific a hundred years ago today–and I’m focused on enjoying the last few days of summer—I thought you might enjoy some photos from a hundred-year-old issue of Ladies Home Journal showing an example of how some families enjoyed a summer vacation at a “camp.”
A Camp for the Family
This family camp, situated on an island in Lake Ontario, successfully carried on for some years past has brought happiness to all families privileged to join it, and its beneficial effects in promoting the harmony of home life are observable throughout the year.
