Carried a Sassy Goose Home from Town

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Thursday, November 26, 1914: Thanksgiving. Have been having quite a long vacation. We had a Thanksgiving dinner for one thing. My taster was lacking due to a cold and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I might have. Carried a sassy goose down from town last Monday. The remains are in the pantry awaiting further digestion for the morrow. Wonder if that goose will keep me awake tonight.

Source of photo: The Livestock Conservancy

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Happy Thanksgiving, Grandma—

You carried a sassy (live?) goose home from town?

How the heck did you do that? A goose must weigh at least 10 or 12 pounds—and a cage would make it even heavier.

I’m not sure where you got it, but you live a mile and a half or so from both McEwensville and Watsontown. That’s a long walk.

And, then I suppose you had to help butcher it –and then cook it. And, you probably also had to make some other foods for the big meal—maybe mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pies. . . .

Whew, I’m tired just thinking about all you needed to do to prepare for Thanksgiving.

I hope that you feel better soon, and that your “taster” is back by tomorrow. After all your hard work you deserve to enjoy at least some of the goose’s “remains.”

Advertisement for Carving Sets for the Thanksgiving Turkey

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Wednesday, November 25, 1914: <<no entry>>

Adversitement for Carving Sets for Thanksgiving turkey — Source: Milton Evening Standard (November 23, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I thought you might enjoy this advertisement for carving sets. It appeared in Grandma’s local newspaper, the Milton Evening Standard.

Are you prepared for Thanksgiving? You won’t want your guests to think that your turkey was tough just because you don’t have a good carving set. 🙂

Farmer Delivering Milk Hit by Trolley Car

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Tuesday, November 24, 1914: <<no entry>>

Source: Milton (PA) Evening Standard (November 23, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Sometimes when Grandma didn’t write anything, I wish that she’d told us mundane things– like what her family discussed over the dinner table that day.

Maybe a hundred-years-ago today,the Muffly’s were talking about the recent accident in the nearby town of Watsontown.

What excitement! Thank goodness the accident wasn’t any worse than it was.

Top News Story: Ships Have Sunk in Lake Superior

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Monday, November 23, 1914: <<no entry>>

Source: Milton Evening Standard (November 23, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

I always find it interesting to see what national news made headlines in central Pennsylvania. This article was the top center headline on the front page of Grandma’s local newspaper, the Milton Evening Standard, a hundred years ago today.

What a sad story—So many lives were lost due to the extreme weather. .

It makes me think about another, more recent, November maritime disaster on Lake Superior—the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on November 10, 1975 which was memorialized in the song by Gordon Lightfoot.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee

The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

When the skies of November turn gloomy

With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more

Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty

That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed

When the gales of November came early

Hundred-Year-Old Fashion Color Chart

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Sunday, November 22, 1914: <<no entry>>

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

What was Grandma doing a hundred years ago today? I wonder if Grandma ever worried about fashion —and which colors were her best colors.

When I was young,Color Me Beautiful was very popular—and I worried about whether I was a Fall or a Summer.

A few days ago I was surprised to discover that the color concept has been around for a long time, and that there were color charts a hundred years ago.

According to an article in the November, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal:

Choosing the most becoming colors is often a difficult task, and while no hard and fast rules can be given for such a selection there are some suggestions which will help to find the right ones. Each woman can find her type, and then take the suggested colors and try them for herself. Do not forget that your personal preference in this matter cannot be taken into consideration for more often than not your favorite color is not a becoming one.

Each season brings a new and fashionable color, and please let me warn you that it will detract from your appearance if you select it for this reason. Make sure that it is becoming first, keeping in mind that good taste, not money, makes the well-dressed woman.

Hundred-year-old Advice for Teaching Caricature Drawing

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Saturday, November 21, 1914: <<no entry>>

Caricature 3a — Source: *School Arts Magazine* (December, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I thought that you might enjoy some pictures and quotes from an article about how to draw caricatures that appeared in a hundred-year-old magazine for art teachers.

Caricature will furnish a legitimate outlet for the energy that creates disorder in the school. The study of humorous drawing develops the ability to make jokes. The teaching of caricature does not necessarily result directly in successful jokes in the classroom; it bears its best fruit in the increased skill and appreciation of the pupils. In this respect the teaching of caricature does not differ from any other lesson.

Youthful caricaturists need to be taught that kindness should be their guide in making a selection of the qualities which they exaggerate, and that the best sense of humor is that which we call good humor.

Clever boys especially are inclined to be cruel in their attempts at jokes; they need training to see that deformity, ignorance, and misfortune are pitiful rather than funny, that a joke must be considered from the point of view of the person joked as well as from that of the joker, that the greatest of strength lies in its gentleness.

Teach a child what is really funny and he will scorn to perpetrate, or even to tolerate, laughter at what is not. So through, the study of humor the teacher can make his worst enemy serve as his best friend.

School Arts Magazine (December, 1914)

1914 Campbell’s Soup Advertisement

19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, November 20, 1914: <<no entry>>

14-04- — Source: Ladies Home Journal (April, 1914)

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Brrr . . . it’s cold here. Since we have no clues what Grandma was doing a hundred years ago today, I thought you might enjoy this Campbell’s Soup ad.