17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 5, 1912:Didn’t go very much today. Miss Tweet was down, but not to see me.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Tweet was the nickname of Helen Wesner, a friend of Grandma and her sister Ruth.
It sounds like Tweet came to see Ruth, but not Grandma. Do a sense a bit of jealousy?
I did a previous post on Tweet that you might enjoy:
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, August 4, 1912:Went to Sunday School this morning. Carrie and I went over to see Florence Crawford this afternoon. I feel so drowsy now, just like gaping.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Carrie refers to Grandma’s close friend Carrie Stout. She is regularly mentioned throughout the diary. I don’t know anything about Florence Crawford. This is the first time (and maybe the only time) that she is mentioned in the diary.
Sounds like Grandma had a nice time with her friends; and that she had that happy, relaxed, sleepy feeling that I sometimes get after a good day.
Is gaping an archaic slang term for yawning?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, August 3, 1912: Let me see, what did I do today? Not very much, anyway. Twas it easy this afternoon.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma again didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m going to go off on a tangent. It’s kind of amazing, but sometimes I find a hundred year old advice really useful and it sticks in my mind.
Here’s some advice about how much to eat:
Temperate people with good digestion never feel their stomachs, forget that they have stomachs, while big eaters are always hungry or faint, or bloated or troubled with heart burn, derangement of the bowels or some other conditions showing a morbid state of the digestive apparatus.
National Food Magazine ((June, 1912)
I saw this quote a month or so ago—and since then when I’m tempted to overeat, I often think that I’d better stop before I feel my stomach. (And, sometimes I forget the advice and feel my stomach—and only then do I remember that I should have followed the advice in that old magazine.)
Previous posts on eating and obesity:
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, August 1, 1912:
August will fly fast enough,
And at its eve will again will be
The dear old school days.
So farewell to July.
Half of the Summer has vanished,
And half of it yet to come.
Yet the days glide on as ever,
And August another month begun.
We had our S.S. class up along the creek today. All were there and had a splendid time. Such a time as we had a losing of things, but they were all recovered. I lost the heel off of my shoe and didn’t miss it for awhile afterwards. I feel like a stuffed toad this evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
It sounds Grandma and her sister Ruth were the hostesses for the Sunday School party. What fun! . . . good friends. . . good food. . . wading in the creek . . . the perfect summer day (in spite of a broken shoe heel).
Grandma began every month in the diary with a poem. Each month I ponder whether she wrote the poem or whether she copied it from some source.
Since she’s mentioned that school will be starting in about a month in several recent posts, this month I’m voting that she wrote the poem herself.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, July 29, 1912: There is really nothing worth writing for today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t have anything worth writing a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a fun tidbit about watermelons that I found in the June 1911 issue of Pure Food Magazine.
Watermelons furnish a delicious and most healthful luxury for the hot season. They keep the system cool, and help to ward off fever. That is why nature has supplied them so bountifully to us during the warm season. The name “watermelon” is most appropriate for it is nearly all water—91.9 percent. Hence, it is also an excellent thirst quencher. Its other nutriments add wonderfully to its healthfulness. . . The water you get in the watermelon ripened on the vine contains no impurities.
I’m always learning new things from doing this blog. Today I learned that when people worried about water quality a hundred years ago, that one alternative to drinking the water was to eat watermelon.
Next time I’m somewhere with questionable water I’ll just have to hope that watermelons are available.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, July 28, 1912: Pa and Ma went away to spend the day. Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Had company this afternoon.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Where did Grandma’s parents go? Her father’s sister Mary’s funeral was on July 20. Mary had lived with two other brothers. Maybe Grandma’s parents went to the brothers’ home in Ottawa (Pennsylvania). Families often gather soon after a funeral to write thank you notes, sort things and reminisce.
Since their parents were gone, I suppose that Grandma and her sister Ruth invited friends over for a fun afternoon.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, July 26, 1912: Just a month from today and study hours will be resumed. How glad I will be when they arrive. Carrie came over this afternoon and evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Just as Grandma felt a hundred years ago, I sense that fall will be here soon. The days are getting shorter . . . and, as my father says, “The wind is blowing over the wheat stubble.”
Carrie refers to Grandma’s friend Carrie Stout.
