Getting a New Fingernail!

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

Monday, February 17, 1913: I have discovered the fact that I am getting a new nail on my once sore thumb.

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

I bet Grandma was looking forward to when her thumb nail would look like this. (Source: Wikipedia)

Whew! Grandma must have really injured her thumb back in December, if it’s taken two months for her to know whether she’d get a new nail.

This was the third time that Grandma mentioned the injured thumb in the diary. (If she hurt it as badly as it sounds, I’m almost surprised how few times she wrote about it.)

Here’s a recap of the previous entries:

December 16, 1912

Our dearest Ruth left for Sunbury this morning and my heart is rather sad. We killed some pigs and I took a slice off the end of my thumb. Oh sad the day, for I don’t care anything about having a sore thumb.

January 20, 1913

I have a sore thumb although I do not think it is as bad as it was several days ago.

Sonnets of a Suffragette

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

Sunday, February 16, 1913: Went to Sunday School this morning. Carrie was over this afternoon.

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

What did Grandma and her friend Carrie Stout talk about?

This was the era of suffragettes. Did they ever talk about the role of women—and whether they should have the right to vote? (The 19^th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, won’t be ratified until 1919.)

Maybe they discussed a book published in 1913 by Berton Braley called Sonnets of a Suffragette.

Here’s the first sonnet in the book:

I read a lot about the Suffrage Cause.

In nearly every paper that I get

There’s something said about the Suffragette

And Woman’s Right and “brutal manmade laws.”

It’s funny, but this “Votes for Women” draws

It’s leaders from the very smartest set.

I don’t know what it’s all about; and yet

I think I’d like to join it—well—because!

Why should I be a frivolous young thing.

Thinking of gowns and dances—and of men—

When I might help make the welkin ring

With “Votes for Women! Like the Upper Ten?

My sheltered life has been too calm and quiet;

The Movement calls me—and I guess I’ll try it.

Writing Essay on American Revolution

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

Thursday, February 13, 1913: Have started my American Revolution essay. I have the introduction written.

Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze (1851) (Source: Wikipedia)

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

Grandma wrote in a previous diary entry that her teacher was going to give a two and a half dollar gold piece to whoever wrote the best essay on the American Revolution.

Why did her teacher select this topic? How did Grandma frame what she wrote?

Grandma—I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you win.

Sway: Archaic Definition

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

Tuesday, February 11, 1913: We are trying to get a program in sway for our next meeting.

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

Hmm…How do you get a “program in sway”? What were they trying to do?

On February 7, 1913 Grandma wrote that she was elected president of the Literary Society. I think that she and the other officers were trying to pull together the program for the next meeting.

According to the Free Online Dictionary, sway can be either a verb or a noun. One meaning for the noun is “control”. So in other words, they were trying to get the program under control.

Play Rehearsals Aren’t Very Interesting

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

Monday, February 10, 1913: Had to go up to practice again this evening. Really I don’t think it is as interesting as I imagined it would be.

The road Grandma would have walked to McEwensville.

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

Grandma plays the role of Chloe, the servant, in the class play.

Play rehearsals aren’t all fun and games. It’s hard work to practice the lines, figure out the staging, and get it all pulled together.

Hopefully there was a bit of time for socializing, clowning around, and other hijinks.

Didn’t Study Catechize Lesson

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

Sunday, February 9, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. I forget to study my catechize lesson, so I didn’t know it very well.

The McEwensville Baptist Church was torn down many years ago, but Grandma would have walked down this road to go to church.

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

Grandma occasionally mentioned catechism classes in the diary. The first time she mentioned it was on the very first day of the diary—January 1, 1911:

. . . This afternoon I went to Sunday school and attended catechize after church. On my way home I received a charming new year’s gift. (Thanks to the donor.) The first day of the new year is almost spent and I feel rather sad.

The most recent time was on September 22, 1912 when she wrote:

Went to S.S. this afternoon and attended Catechize.

Whew, Grandma’s been taking catechism classes for more than two years. That seems like a really long time. And, she also seems really old to be taking them. She’s 17—almost 18 years old. I believe that Grandma attended the McEwensville Baptist Church.

I wonder:

How many years did young people need to attend catechism classes before they could join the church a hundred years ago?

What was the typical age when people joined the church back then?

Went to Box Social

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

Saturday, February 8, 1913: Went to Watsontown this morning to get some stuff for a box social. Ruth and I went up to McEwensville this evening. I did not spend a very enjoyable evening since the person I wanted to get my box didn’t get it and the person I didn’t want to get it got it. Rode home with Ruth and her friend. He’s one of the bald-headed types.

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

I think this is the first box social that Grandma’s gone to since she began the diary—though her sister Ruth went to one in February, 1912.

Box socials always seem like something out of story books. The girls prepared beautiful box lunches with enough food for two that were then auctioned off to raise funds for the school or some charity.

The winning bidder would eat the food with the girl who made the box.

It sounds like the box social turned into a disaster for Grandma.

Ruth was 21—the guy she was with sounds older. How old was he?. . . 30??. . . older??