Picking Trailing Arbutus with Friends

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

Thursday, April 30, 1914: But we went today and got all we cared to carry home. It is quite a distance and my legs ache by this time.

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

I’m guessing that Grandma and some of her friends picked lots of training arbutus. Two days prior to this entry she wrote:

Was going for trailing arbutus this afternoon, but the other girls didn’t have time to go, so it’s postponed til tomorrow.

It apparently took two days to actually get the group together to pick arbutus.

Trailing arbutus are also called mayflowers. Several years ago when Grandma wrote about gathering trailing arbutus, I found a description at The Write Way about what it was like to pick them. It’s still the best description I’ve ever seen, so I’m going to repeat it here:

I have such crisp memories of picking wild mayflowers with my brother. Scrounging around on the sun-splashed forest floor, moving decaying leaves with our bare hands to find a delicately scented flower smaller than a dime.

Trailing arbutus are not easy to find; their flowers tend to hide under the leaves. It takes quite a few flowers to make even a small bunch, but they were worth it.

Brenda Visser

Hundred-Year-Old Newspaper Article: “Woman Masqueraded As Man” for 60 Years

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

Wednesday, April 29, 1914: <<no entry>>

Source; Milton Evening Standard (April 2, 1914) — Source; *Milton Evening Standard* (April 2, 1914)

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

A hundred years ago today was one of the few days when Grandma didn’t write a diary entry. Since she didn’t write anything, I thought that I’d share a hundred-year-old article I recently came across when I was browsing through old microfilms of the Milton Evening Standard.

1914 Kodak Advertisement in Farm Magazine

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

Tuesday, April 28, 1914: Was going for trailing arbutus this afternoon, but the other girls didn’t have time to go, so it’s postponed til tomorrow. Developed my plates. The negatives are spotted some, where they got touched.

Source: Kimball's Dairy Farmer Magazine (June 1, 1914) — Source: Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine (June 1, 1914)

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

Yeah Grandma! I’m glad that you’re still taking photos and developing them. This is the first time you’ve mentioned photography in months. What a fun hobby!—though it sounds difficult to get perfect photos.

What did you take photos of? . . . friends? . . . family? . . . or perhaps you convinced your parents to buy your film and supplies by saying that you’d take photos to help keep an accurate record of the farm operations.

What Does “Not Worth the Snap of Your Fingers” Mean?

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

Monday, April 27, 1914: Not worth the snap of your fingers.

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

Hmm. . . I don’t think I’ve ever heard that phrase. What does “not worth the snap of your finger” mean? Was Grandma feeling ill?. . depressed? . . . Was she bored? . . . Overworked?

The Homelike Little Church

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

Sunday, April 26, 1914: Went to Sunday School this morning. Called on a friend this afternoon.

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

Almost every Sunday Grandma went to church at the Baptist Church in McEwensville. The church building is long gone—and I have no idea what it looked like.

But the March, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal had an article about “the homelike little church.” Maybe the McEwensville Baptist Church was somewhat similar to the church in the drawings.

The interior was planned to make it as comfortable and homelike as possible.

1914 Flower Embroidery Designs

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

Saturday, April 25, 1914: Plugging away.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (August, 1914) — Source: *Ladies Home Journal* (August, 1914)

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

Oh dear—Sounds like Grandma was still helping with the spring housecleaning. Did she get any breaks in the work when she could relax, and do something she enjoyed? . . . perhaps do a little needlework?

These selections of designs bring out a very pleasing effect in embroidery done with silks and natural-colored linen. The flowers are worked solid and the leaves in long and short stitches. To develop the beauty of the pattern fully requires a very careful combination of color and shading.

One or two pieces of such distinctive work are sufficient in a room; if more is used the effect is too striking.

Ladies Home Journal (August, 1914)

1914 Postum Advertisement

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

Friday, April 24, 1914: Didn’t do anything hardly.

Source; Kimball's Dairy Farmer Magazine (March 1, 1914) — Source; Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine (March 1, 1914)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a fun 1914 ad for Postum. Can you still buy this old-fashioned coffee substitute? I haven’t seen it in years. I wonder if it really was better for us than coffee.