19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, July 24, 1914: Nothing doing.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma-
I hope that you aren’t doing “nothing” because you’re still in pain from the hay-loading accident two days ago.
If you’re stiff and sore, maybe Sloan’s Liniment would help. It kills all pain in man or beast.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, July 20, 1914: Nothing of importance.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a hundred-year-old ad that I found a bit unsettling. Today we hear so much about the problems with asbestos. I was surprised to see an ad for asbestos roofing in the March 15, 1914 issue of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, July 18, 1914: Nothing much doing. Went to an ice cream sale this evening. Didn’t get any there, but got some at another place.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
mmm. . . Eating ice cream with friends sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Saturday evening.
Grandma did have the ice cream with friends didn’t she? The diary entry doesn’t exactly say that, but I think that’s what she means. In my imagination a group of friends made homemade ice . . . laughing and chatting while they took turns turning the crank.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, July 10 – Saturday, July 11, 1914: Forgot the particulars of these days.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write any specific for this date, I’ll share an advertisement that I found for Acme Dress Forms. I knew a few people who had dress forms when I was a kid. Does anyone have them anymore?
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, June 22, 1914: Had quite a time at rubbing and washing today, and it wasn’t here at home either. We are going to have the church fixed over, and it was necessary to wash off the walls. One girl upset her bucket of water off a step ladder. Had to laugh. I was up near the ceiling, and my laughing made me dizzy. Came down off that ladder and staid down. Didn’t want a fate like the bucket.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What fun. . . and what a mess! Did they use an O-Cedar Mop to clean it up?
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, June 6, 1914: Same as ever.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share this advertisement for vanilla extract that appeared in the April, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, May 24 – Thursday, May 28, 1914: Nothing much doing.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write anything specific for this date, I thought that you might enjoy seeing this 1914 advertisement for horses in Grandma’s local newspaper, the Milton Evening Standard.
It’s hard to imagine how far agriculture has come in a hundred years—and that living horses were the primary providers of “horse power” in 1914.
The spring planting season would have been a busy time on the Muffly farm. I wonder how many horses Grandma’s father owned to help with the work.
