17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, March 15, 1913: We had company today. Didn’t think at first they’d come, for it was so rainy.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I wonder who visited the Muffly’s. Does company refer to one person, a couple, or a family with children? Did any of the children wear Bestyette rain capes or slicker coats to stay dry?
Does company refer to one person, a couple, or a family with children? Did any children wear Bestyette rain capes or coats to stay dry?
Source: Ladies Home Journal (October, 1913)
Bestyette Rain Coats
Yes, it is difficult to tell a good rain garment from a poor one. The eyes or fingers cannot tell whether the garment is waterproof or not. That is why you should buy Bestyette raincoats that are made by an old established concern, the New York Mackintosh Company, and sold with the famous
Bestyette Guarantee: “Satisfaction or a new garment free.”
The Bestyette process of waterproofing is a secret way of treating and applying live new rubber to the fabric so that it is absolutely waterproof and won’t dry or crack from age or usage.
Bestyette Garments are strikingly stylish, correctly cut, and well-tailored. They cost but little more than the inferior, unknown, unguaranteed kinds. Made for men, women, and children. Here we illustrate two of our “hits” for the little folks. Every child should have one. Cheaper than doctors’ bills—better than umbrellas which break or get lost.
The Famous Bestyette Storm Cape $3.00 up
The famous Bestyette Storm Cape is made of genuinely good rubberized material of a soft, silky finish—fitted with a roomy plaid-lined silk hood, and tied at the neck with dainty silk ribbons. It envelops the child from head to feet. In tailoring, fit, and all the finer points of finishing, the Bestyette is far superior to cheap, unguaranteed imitations. Colors guaranteed fast: cardinal, navy, golden brown and tan. Sizes 4 to 15. Price with free School bag, $3.00 up.
For Boys and Girls Bestyette Slicker Coat $3.50 up
The Bestyette Slicker coat is a great favorite with boys and girls. It is made on mannish lines and affords perfect protection against driving rain and piercing winds. It is absolutely waterproof and wonderfully durable—made of special double material, treated by the Bestyette process. It won’t dry, creak, or leak. Sizes 4 to 14 years. Price $3.50 up. (Sou’ Wester Hats, 50 cents up.)
If your dealer cannot supply you with Bestyette garments, we will. Write for Booklet.
NEW YORK MACKINTOSH CO.
39 2. 32 Street New York City
School bag free with each Bestyette storm cape.
This bag is waterproof and contains two compartments, one for carrying school books, the other for carrying the Bestyette storm cape.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, March 9, 1913:Went to Sunday School this afternoon. It was so nice out. Felt most too warm with my jacket on going up.
Wooltex
The W. BLACK COMPANY
Designers
Wooltex Coat $15.00
Model 2249
An Extraordinary
Demonstration of Wooltex Value.
A handsomer coat for general service could scarcely be designed at any price than this model, No. 2249. It comes in whip cords, diagonal worsteds, find fancy diagonals, and a variety of fancy worsteds. Trimming is with inserts of self or contracting color broadcloth, and with buttonholes and invorine buttons to match inserts. Price but $15.00.
There are a few woman in every city who are always “well-dressed”.
They are not always the richest.
Go see the Wooltex spring models and know why so many of them wear Wooltex coats and suits.
The Store That Sells Wooltext Coats, Suits, Skirts
(Source: Ladies Home Journal, April, 1913)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The online Weather Channel forecast for McEwensville for today is a low of 31° and a high of 52.° Sounds like a nice day—though still jacket weather. It may have been a just a little bit nicer on this date a hundred years ago.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, February 22, 1913: Mother and I went on a shopping expedition this morning. I doubted whether we’d ever get to Milton. The train was late, and it looked rainy. Ma got me a gray jacket suit, two waists, one is silk, and a pair of shoes which I think I will keep for graduation.
All shoes from a Red Cross Shoe advertisements in Ladies Home Journal (April, 1913, October, 1913)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It sounds like a fun shopping expedition. The shoes must have been very special if Grandma planned to save them for graduation.
Grandma and her mother probably rode the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick train to Watsontown. There was a flag stop at the feed mill near their farm. They probably then took the trolley to Milton. According to my father, Grandma used to call the train the Sweet, Bye, and Bye because you never could tell when it would come.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 5, 1913: Nothing very much for today. Went up to practice this evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma was going to be in her class play, and went back into McEwenville in the evening for play practice. (She probably had to come home after school to help milk the cows.)
Grandma obviously appreciated whatever culture was available in her small rural community. I recently found this advertisement for Victor Victrola’s in the March 15, 1913 issue of a farm magazine called Kimball’s Dairy Farmer.
If there is any place where a Victor-Victrola is needed and sure to be appreciated, it is in the homes of the farmers—in your house.
You haven’t the opportunities city people have for attending the theatre, opera, and musical concerts—and yet you have real need of such entertainment to rest body and mind after your day of toil.
And you can have it with a Victor-Victrola in your home. You can enjoy the world’s best music, sung and played by the same great artists who entertain the large city audiences.
You can hear whatever kind of music you like right now.
You don’t have to wait until you feel you can afford a $100 or $200 instrument—any Victor-Victrola you choose as the instrument for your home will play every record in the Victor catalog, and will give you almost as perfect music as the Victor- Victrola XVI, the instrument by which the value of all musical instruments in measured.
Any Victor dealer in any city in the world will gladly demonstrate the Victor-Victrola to you and play any music you wish to hear.
Write us for the handsome illustrated Victor catalogs.
Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N.J.
Berliner Gramophone Co., Montreal, Canadian Distributors
Victor-Victrola XVI, $200, Mahogany or quartered oak
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, January 23, 1913:Bout the same as ever.
The
Healthful Beverage
Welch’s is the drink for youth and age. It tastes good, satisfies thirst and is healthful. It contains all the health-giving qualities of the finest Concord grapes. It is a splendid temperance beverage for the home. It adds a touch of cheerful hospitality to all formal and informal affairs.
Welch’s
“The National Drink”
To maintain the high quality of Welch’s we pay from $7 to $9 per ton over the market price, thus securing only the choicest of the luscious Concords grown in the Chautauqua Grape Belt.
Welch Punch
For a dainty, unfermented punch, take the juice of three lemons, juice of one orange, one pint Welch’s Grape Juice, one quart water and one cup of sugar. Add sliced oranges and a pineapple and serve cold. Order a case and have a supply in the house.
If unable to get Welch’s of your dealer we will ship a trial dozen pints, express prepaid east of Omaha, for $3. Sample 4-oz bottle, mailed 10¢. Write for our free booklet of recipes.
The Welch Grape Juice Co.
Westfield, New York
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write much, I’ll share old ad I found in the February, 1913 issue of National Food Magazine.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, January 21, 1913: Nothing to write.
Source: National Food Magazine (January, 1913)
Advertisement Text:
The Call of the Bell
It is music to Johnny’s ears if he starts the day with a warm, nourishing breakfast of Shredded Wheat
–and it’s so easy to get him off to school without fuss or worry because it’s ready-cooked and has in it everything he needs for study or play. It’s the whole wheat, cooked, shredded and baked to a crisp, golden brown.
Simply heat the biscuits in the oven a few moments to restore crispness, then pour hot milk over them adding a little cream and salt, or sweeten to suit the taste. A muscle-making, brain,-building food for children and grown-ups, for athletes and invalids, for outdoor men and indoor men, for workers with hand or brain.
The Only Breakfast Cereal Made in Biscuit Form.
Made only by
The Shredded Wheat Company
Niagara Fall, N.Y.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since not much happened a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a 1913 advertisement I found for Shredded Wheat in National Food Magazine.
Back then you were supposed to heat the biscuits and then pour hot milk over them. Strange. . but I decided to try it.
The result—
I ended up with a hot, soft, mushy cereal. I had a difficult time getting past the texture—which was so very different from the crispiness of cold shredded wheat—but it warmed my tummy on a cold winter day.
