The Name Burpee is known the world over as synonymous with the Best Seed that Grow! Are You willing to pay a fair price for selected seeds of the choicest vegetables and most beautiful flowers? If so, it may prove of mutual interest if you write today (a postal card will do) for The New Burpee Annual. This is a bright book of 182 pages that is intensely interesting for every one who gardens either for pleasure or profit. Shall we mail you a copy? If so what is your address? Our address is W. Altee Burpee & CO., Philadelphia
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It’s the same as ever here, too. . .
March came in like a lion yesterday, and there’s still snow on the ground. Browsing through my Burpee Seed catalog gives me hope that spring will come someday.
Maybe Grandma browsed through the 182-page 1914 Burpee catalog a hundred years ago today, and also dreamed of spring.
(It’s amazing that you could just write W. Altee Burpee and the word Philadelphia on a card, and that it would somehow find it’s way to the company. . . Somehow I think that in today’s more computerized world that a much more detailed address would be required.)
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 25, 1914: Something like yesterday.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1914)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It was a slow week. This was the third day in a row that Grandma didn’t write much.
Maybe Grandma had time to enter a contest that was in Ladies Home Journal.
The Wilson Dress-hooks contest gave a $100 cash prize for the best title of 8 words or less for this picture.
The contest rules say:
Why tolerate such embarrassment as shown in the above picture? For the last five years increasing numbers of women have been exclaiming, “At last I have found a fastening that simply can not be sprung open nor come unfastened!”
Rules
1. Write your title (8 words or less) –the shorter the better. Below it your name and address–nothing more. Only one title accepted per person.
2. Count Wilson Dress-hooks as two words only. You may use or omit them in your title.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, February 24, 1914: Ditto
Source: National Food Magazine (February, 1914)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This is the second day in a row that Grandma didn’t write much. The previous day she wrote, “Nothing hardly worthwhile.”
The party that she plans to attend on Friday (and mentioned on the 22nd)—apparently didn’t merit a second mention when she wrote this entry.
What did Grandma do on quiet winter days? Did she ever bake or make candies using Karo corn syrup?
We worry so much about the health effects of corn syrup today. Who would have guessed that corn syrup has been around for least a hundred years? . . . (though I think that the recipe for Karo has changed over the years—and that back then it was just corn syrup, not high fructose corn syrup like it is now.)
Correction: After I published this post, I discovered that I’d made an error–and that Karo does not contain high fructose corn syrup. According to a FAQ sheet on the Karo website, Karo is made of regular corn syrup (glucose only). See comments below for more details.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, February 12, 1914: Cut a gash an inch long, while drying the dishes, in my hand.
Picked out nuts for a cake. Ruthie made it. It got most too stiff. Could hear her rumbling and grumbling about it for half an hour afterwards at least.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (February, 1914)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
How the heck did Grandma get a one-inch gash while drying dishes? I don’t think that I’ve ever been injured while drying dishes.
Maybe Grandma treated her injury with Carbolated Vaseline. It was a popular ointment a hundred years ago.
Nuts and Nut Cake
What kind of nuts was Grandma picking out—black walnuts? . . .butternuts? . . hickory nuts?
Several previous posts that you might find interesting include:
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 ad that encouraged families to homestead to Montana.
Whew, it’s hard to believe that there still was “unbroken” land a hundred years ago that could be had for very little money. At least the people were able to get there in relative comfort via train, and didn’t need the covered wagons that were used in prior years.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, January 31, 1914: This day presented a swelled appearance. First it rained and then rained some more until at last all these little streamlets around here just had to spread out and get big.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (April, 1914)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Brrr. . . it sounds like a cold, wet, miserable rain. Did it rain enough to cause some minor flooding?
I hope that Grandma had a good raincoat. I bet she wished that she had a stylish raincoat—like a Kenyon.
