Close Relationship Between School and Community

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

Friday, January 24, 1913: Didn’t have any visitors at our literary meeting this afternoon, and I was rather glad that we didn’t.

Recent photo of old McEwensville School building.

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

Members of the Literary Society at Grandma’s high school presented recitations and dialogues at their meetings. Apparently, guests were always welcome.

Grandma’s went to a tiny one-room high school (The high school was on the second floor of the building; there was a primary school on the first floor).

The school was such an integral part of the social fabric of the community that it merited mention in the diary not when there were visitors at the meeting, but rather when there were none.

The school obviously had many limitations, yet I have a gut feeling there was something special about the small community-based schools a hundred years ago.

According to the June, 1913 issue of The Rural Educator:

We must, at the outset, recognize that the social institutions are the machines through which social energy works. There is abundant social energy in every rural community. The center of intellectual activities of the community should be the rural school.

Sister’s 21st Birthday Party

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

Wednesday, January 22, 1913: We had a surprise party tonight. Had quite a good time. It was a surprise for Ruth, and she didn’t know the least of it.

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

It probably was a birthday party for Grandma’s sister Ruth. I bet it was a really big surprise since Ruth turned 21 three days earlier on January 19.

What was a 21^st birthday party like a hundred years ago?

Did Grandma pull Ruth’s ears 21 times on her birthday? People used to pull the birthday person’s ear lobes one time for each year. On January 19, 1911 Grandma wrote:

Pulled Miss Muffly’s ears first thing this morning, whether she liked it or not. . .

And, on January 19, 1912, she wrote:

. . . I pulled Ruthie’s ears. I tell her she is getting to be an old maid but really don’t mean it. . . .

Have a Part in the Class Play

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

Monday, January 20, 1913: Our class expects to have a swell blow-out one of these days. We’re going to give a play. I am Chloe the negro servant. That was the part I really wanted.

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

Hmm—I could go a lot of directions with this post, but I guess I’ll just leave it with this:

I’m glad Grandma got the part she wanted, but I wonder why she really wanted the role of Chloe. Was it a large part . . . or a relatively minor one? Did she think that it would be a challenging role . . . or an easy one?

Patrons’ Day

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

Friday, January 17, 1913: We had patrons’ day at school this afternoon. Everything went off pretty good. We had quite a few visitors.

Recent photo of building that once housed McEwensville Schools.

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

A patron is someone who provides financial support. In 1912, the McEwensville Schools were public schools, so I’m not exactly sure who attended Patron’s Day.

The school often had financial difficulty, so perhaps community members made donations to help ensure that the students got an adequate education.

Thomas Kramm in The History of the McEwensville Schools included highlights from the school board minutes. The 1913 highlight was:

04-13: The Board borrowed money from the Watsontown Bank.

Hopefully, the school’s patrons were very generous. . .

Related previous posts that you might enjoy include:

School Had Financial Problems

State of Pennsylvania Responsible for the Provision of Public Education

Capacity (Volume) Word Problems

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

Thursday, January 16, 1913: We had an examination in Geometry this morning. I think I will make a better mark than what I did the other time.

Source: Kimball's Commercial Arithmetic (1911) — Source: Kimball’s Commercial Arithmetic (1911)

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

What was the Geometry test about—proofs? . . . angles? . . . shapes? . . . capacities?

The directions for doing capacity problems in a hundred-year-old textbook (I think it was called volume by the time I was in school. Is capacity the same thing as volume?) seem very different from what I remember doing when I was a student:

The method of finding the contents of any regular vessel in gallons, bushels, barrels, etc. is called gauging.

The capacity of tanks, cisterns, etc. is usually expressed in gallons or barrels. In every liquid gallon there are 231 cu. in.

To find the exact number of gallons in any vessel, divide the number of cubic inches in the vessel by 231.

To find the number of gallons in a cylindrical vessel, multiply the square of the diameter by the height, and this product by 5 7/8.

To find the approximate number of gallons in a cistern, multiply the number of cubic feet by 7 1/2 and from the product, subtract 1/400 of the product.

The capacity of bins, etc. is usually expressed in bushels. The standard bushel in the United States is a measure 8 inches deep, 18 1/2 inches in diameter, and contains 2150.42 cubic inches. Hence, to find the number of bushels in any bin, divide the number of cubic inches in the bin by 2140.42.

Kimball’s Commercial Arithmetic (1911)

Got that? Want to try some problems?

Find the contents in gallons of a tank 4 ft. square and 5 ft. deep.
The water in a cistern 8 ft. square is 2 ft. deep, how many gallons does it contain?
A bin 8 ft. by 4 ft. by (?) contains 90 bushels of grain. Find the missing dimension.
How many tons of water will fill a tank 11 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 3 in., if the weight of a cubic foot of water is 1,000 ounces?

The Food Value of Peanuts

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

Saturday, January 15, 1913: Don’t know hardly what to write today.

Source: Good Housekeeping (December, 1912)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m going to go off on a tangent.

Sometimes I read a magazine article from a hundred years ago—and I’m absolutely floored by how it could have been written in 2013 instead of so long ago

For example, I recently came across an article in the December 1912 issue of Good Housekeeping titled “The Food Value of a Peanut.” <<Yawn>>.

Then I read,

As a result of the growing popularity of vegetarianism, the demand for nuts is increasing.

Really? . . . There were vegetarians a hundred years ago?

And, I continued reading:

Another reason for the increasing demand for nuts, and more especially for peanuts, is their relative cheapness as sources of nourishment and energy. Even compared with such staple foods as bread and beans, peanuts supply protein and energy very cheaply.

Sounds about like today. Both then and now people worry about the high cost of food–though I don’t think that peanuts are particularly inexpensive now.

Hemophiliac Czarevitch Alexei Sick Again

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

Tuesday, January 14, 1913: Haven’t spent much time on my studies this evening. At present I am waiting for Ruth to get through with a paper so I can read it.

Alexei Nikolaevich, Heir to the Russain Throne (Source: Wikipedia) — Alexei Nikolaevich, Heir to the Russian Throne (Source: Wikipedia)

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

What was in the headlines a hundred years ago today? I’m not sure what was in the newspaper that Grandma and her sister Ruth were reading, but I was surprised to discover that the New York Times had an article about the son of Russian Tsar Nicholas II.

Whew, a hundred years ago Russia was still ruled by a Tsar! Grandma was writing before the beginning of the Soviet Union . . . and before the Russian Revolution.

CZAREVITCH IS ILL AGAIN

Heir to the Throne is Again Confined to His Bed

London, Tuesday, Jan. 14—The correspondent in St. Petersburg telegraphs:

After being present at the Christmas festivities of the garrison at the palace of Tsarskoe Selo, the Czarevitch, who was mysteriously ill in the autumn is again confined to his bed.

The Dowager Empress, who has been suffering from lumbago, is obliged to keep to her bed.

Owing to the unfavorable impression caused by the cancellation of the New Year’s reception, which was to have been held at the Winter Palace today, the Czar with receive the Diplomatic Corps at the palace of Tsarskoe Selo.

New York Times (January 14, 1913)

Alexei, the oldest son of the Tsar had hemophilia –and that’s probably why he was ill a hundred years ago today. His mother Alexandra believed that a monk named Rasputin was the only person who knew how to cure him. As a result Rasputin became extremely powerful. This was seen as scandalous by many in Russia, and helped bring about the Russian Revolution and the end of the Tsars.