18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, July 15, 1913: Nothing doing.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I bet that Grandma still felt mopey when she wrote this entry. The previous day she wrote that she “didn’t feel very good today, and did feel very miserable. I’m not really sick, but sick at heart over something. “
Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound was a popular tonic for female problems a hundred years ago.
Source: Milton Evening Standard (June 3, 1913)
GIRLS WHO ARE PALE, NERVOUS
May Find Help in Mrs. Elston’s Letter About Her Daughter.
Burlington, Iowa—“Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound has cured my daughter of weakness. She was troubled almost a year with it and complained of backache, so that I thought she would be an invalid. She was entirely run down, pale, nervous and without appetite. I was very much discouraged but heard of Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound through friends and now I praise it because it has cured my daughter.” –Mr.s F.M. Elston, R.D. No. 3, Burlington, Iowa
Case of Another Girl
Scanlon, Minn. – “I used to be bothered with nervous spells, and would cry if anyone was cross with me. I got awful weak spells especially in the morning, and my appetite was poor. I also had a tender place in my right side which pained when I did any hard work. I took Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound and my symptoms all changed, and I am certainly feeling fine. I recommend it to every suffering woman or girl. You may use this letter for the good of others.” — Miss Ella Olson, 171 5th St., Virginia, Minn.
Young Girls, Heed This Advice
Girls who are troubled with painful or irregular periods, backache, headache, dragging-down sensations, fainting spells or indigestion, should immediately seek restoration to health by taking Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, July 5, 1913:Ruth and I went up to McEwensville this evening. I wanted to go up to church. There was a festival, so I went there for awhile, but didn’t have a very good time.
The satisfying beverage—in field or forest; at home or in town. As pure and wholesome as it is temptingly good .
Delicious—Refreshing
Thirst—Quenching
Demand the Genuine—
Refuse substitutes.
Send for Free Booklet.
2-A
At Soda Fountains or Carbonated in Bottles.
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY, ATLANTA, GA.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It sounds like fun to go to a festival on a Saturday evening after a hard week of work. Why didn’t Grandma have a very good time?. . . Did her sister Ruth enjoy herself?
What foods did they eat at the festival? Was Coca Cola sold?
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, June 25, 1913: Went up to McEwensville this afternoon to transact some very important business, or rather so it seemed to me.
Now what could it be? Nothing less than that I sent off for a camera. I’ve wanted one for a long time, but thought I could hardly afford it. I was reminded that I really wanted it only by finding a camera catalog up in the garret yesterday. And as I had earned almost five dollars during the last two weeks, I carried the project through.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1913)
If it isn’t an Eastman, it isn’t a Kodak.
It’s springtime. Every field and park and woodland—every walk and ride, every joyous outing, invites your KODAK.
Eastman Kodak Co.,
Rochester, N.Y., The Kodak City.
Catalogue free at your dealers or by mail.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
A camera sounds like a lot of fun. What a great thing for Grandma to spend her money on!
Grandma made quite a bit picking strawberries—and, of course, she had money that she received earlier in the spring as graduation presents.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, June 22, 1913:Went to Sunday School this afternoon.
QUELQUES FLEURS
New Perfume HOUBIGANT
Abroad, the odor of the hour
Sample Bottle will delight you–25¢
Park & Tilford, 225 Fifth Ave., New York
“CAPTIVATED PARIS IN A DAY”
Source: Ladies Home Journal (October, 1913)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
When I was young I used to put a little perfume on before going to church. (You never knew where you might see a cute guy who would appreciate perfume.)
Did Grandma also spritz on a little perfume before going to Sunday School?
This is what Wikipedia says about Quelques Fleurs perfume:
In 1912, the Houbigant presented Quelques Fleurs, the first true multi-floral bouquet ever created. Up to that time, floral fragrances had been mostly single flowers or were blended with herbs and other essences. The Genealogy of Perfumes cites Quelques Fleurs as a landmark innovation that established a totally new fragrance classification and influenced other compositions for years afterwards including many of today’s important fragrances.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, June 10, 1913: Nothing much doing.
Source: Watsontown Record and Star (May 1, 1914)
$3.00 LOW RATE
Sunday Excursion
Washington
Sunday, May 3
A Rare Chance to Visit the National Capital
SPECIAL TRAIN LEAVES
Williamsport . . . 12:01 A.M.
Market Street. . . 12:05 A.M.
Muncy . . . 12:30 A.M.
Montgomery. . . 12: 38 A.M.
Dewart. . . 12:47 A.M.
Watsontown . . . 12:52 A.M.
Milton. . . 1:02 A.M.
Returning, Special Train will leave Washington. . . 5:40 P.M.
The Trip of a life-time. An education as well as a delight. An opportunity to see “The Heart of the Nation,” a city of magnificent distances, unlike any other city in the country.
An Ideal Sunday Outing
See the New National Museum, Library of Congress, Capitol Building, Concoran Art Gallery, and the varied sights of Washington, “The City Beautiful.”
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma’s sister Ruth left the previous day for a week-long trip to Washington DC.
Today the 200 mile drive from McEwensville to Washington DC takes at least 3 1/2 hours. I have no idea how low the train ride was a hundred years ago.
It is not what Ruth did, but I was surprised to discover that back then there were one-day excursion trips to DC from central Pennsylvania. The train left Williamsport right after midnight—and picked up people in several nearby towns and then raced to DC. The route would be reversed in the evening.
Imagine the excitement of catching a train in the middle of the night—and pulling into Union Station at dawn. . . and seeing the capitol outlined in the early morning sunlight.
Dang—I almost put myself into the story—and was ready to book a seat on the next excursion train; then I remembered that it was 2013.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, May 31, 1913: What I did today was far from being romantic. I had to help plant taters this afternoon.
25 Years’
Potato Experience
For a quarter of a century I have made a specialty of growing and handling Choice Seed Potatoes, testing all the leading varieties, retaining and improving the best. This year’s list is the cream.
My 26th Annual Seed Book
should be in the hands of every progressive farmer and gardener. It contains 54 pages crowded full of valuable information. The best in Seed Potatoes, Field and Garden Seeds of all kinds. Write postal today.
L.L. OLDS, President
L.L. Olds Seed Co., Drawer C, Madison, Wis.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma did you dream about doing romantic things? Hmm. . . I guess that’s for another day. In the meantime, the farm work needed to be done.
—
I’m not sure whether the Muffly’s raised potatoes to sell . . or if they just raised them for family use. Either way, they would have planted lots of potatoes. A hundred years ago potatoes were one of the main staples that people ate during the long winter months.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, May 26, 1913: I haven’t got much to write about for today. At present I feel extremely sleepy.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Was Grandma so tired because she’d worked very hard on the farm all day?
Here’s an advertisement for a Philadelphia newspaper which appeared in the May 28, 1913 issue of the Milton Evening Standard that I thought you might enjoy.
Women as Farm Workers
<<picture>>
One Result of the Labor Shortage in Pennsylvania
All of the farm, crop and market news of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware—what progressive farmers are doing.
Every day of the week, as well as on Friday, the PUBLIC LEDGER prints much of special interest to farmers, as well as all the news, local, foreign and domestic, tersely and interestingly told.
FRIDAY’S AGRICULTURAL SECTION
Present Condition of Garden Crops in the territory that feeds Philadelphia
Poultry-Meat Farming vs. Egg Raising by Michael K. Boyer
Making Alfalfa Pay in the East by D.C. Kauffmann of York
Read the PUBLIC LEDGER regularly. By carrier, daily and Sunday, 17 center a week.
By mail, outside of Philadelphia, daily, 50 cents a month, daily and Sunday, 75 cents a month.
PUBLIC LEDGER
News Agents for Milton, Pa.
W.A. REED B. GALBRAITH
J. BUOY A.H. KREBS
Independence Square Public Ledger Company
Philadelphia Cyrus H.K. Curtis, President
The Public Ledger was a Philadelphia newspaper which apparently hoped to expand its market into rural central Pennsylvania by including agricultural news.
Apparently it was controversial that women helped on their family farms—and articles which addressed these types of issues were seen as selling points for the paper.
