Category: Other

Old-time Tips for Washing Dishes

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

Saturday, June 22, 1912: Went to Watsontown this afternoon. I managed to get through with the dishes and then went for the cows. I found them having a picnic in the corn field, and they were quickly dispatched to safer premises.

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

Here’s some advice from the early 1900s for doing the dishes. It is abridged from a 1902 cookbook.

Do not be afraid of hot water in washing up dishes and dirty cooking utensils. As these are essentially greasy, lukewarm water cannot possibly have the effect of cleansing them effectively.

After you have washed your saucepans, fish-kettle, &c., stand them before the fire for a few minutes to get thoroughly dry inside, before putting them away. They should then be kept in a dry place, in order that they may escape the deteriorating influence of rust.

Never leave saucepans dirty from one day’s use to be cleaned the next.

After washing up your dishes, wash your dish-tubs with a little soap and water and soda, and scrub them often.

Do not throw anything but water down the sink, as the pipe is liable to get choked, thereby causing expense and annoyance.

Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery Book (1902)

Cows Escaped

Whew–the cows escaped from the pasture, again! This must be at least the fourth or fifth time in 1912. (It’s happened so many times that I’ve lost track of the exact number.)

Pulled Little Brother’s Baby Tooth

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

Thursday, June 19, 1912: Pulled a tooth for Jimmie. It was the first one to go, and then he got another yanked out before the day was over.

Jimmie Muffly

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

How did Grandma pull her little brother’s baby tooth? Did she tie a string around it and pull? . . . twist and wiggle the tooth back and forth with her finger?  . . . give it a quick tug?

100 Years After the War of 1812

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

Wednesday, June 18, 1912:Ma went to Milton today. She bought me an umbrella. Went to Watsontown this afternoon, and some of my money went to.

Recent photo of downtown Watsontown. It’s about a mile and a half west of the Muffly farm.

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

Grandma must have decided that she needed an umbrella after the rain the previous Sunday prevented her from attending Sunday School.

What did Grandma buy when she went to Watsontown?

_____

Since the diary entry is self-explanatory, I’m going to go off on a tangent.

I’m not sure why, but when I see something in the news I often view it through the frame of the diary.

For example,  in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal there was an article which said that the War of 1812 began 200 years ago on June 18. I guess it’s obvious that the War of 1812 occurred 100 years before Grandma’s diary entry–but I’d never thought about it that way before. In other words, the diary was written at the midpoint between the War of 1812 and the present.

I t also made me  think about how the Civil War began 151 years ago (51 years before this  diary entry)—and that War War I had not yet occurred in 1912 (it started in 1914).

Patent Medicine Cartoon

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

Tuesday, June 18, 1912: I seemed to have had sort of a hard time today.

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

Sounds like things still weren’t going well. The previous day Grandma wrote that she didn’t feel well, but that no one took it seriously.

Yesterday, I posted an old advertisement for a patent medicine. A hundred years ago, they were controversial and were just beginning to be regulated by the government.

Here’s a cartoon about patent medicines that appeared in the September, 1910 issue of National Food Magazine.

A SUGGESTION FOR AN “AD” FOR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING BABY KILLERS:

BEFORE TAKING

“That’ll make it stop crying, 50 cents, please.”

—

AFTER TAKING

<<drawing of crying mother>>

Didn’t Go to Sunday School

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

Sunday, June 16, 1912:  It rained today. Wanted to go to Sunday School this afternoon, but the walking I felt sure would be simply terrible. Besse and Curt were out this evening.

Recent rainy day photo of the house Grandma lived in when she wrote the diary.

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

The weather doesn’t sound good—

Mud would have been an issue since the road between the Muffly farm and McEwensville wasn’t paved a hundred years ago.

Grandma seldom skipped Sunday School—I think this was only the second time since the diary began in January, 1911.

Grandma mentioned several times in the diary that she didn’t want to miss Sunday School because each week she memorized Bible verses—and that if she memorized  700+ verses that she’d get a Bible.

Well, Grandma reached her goal on May 26 and received her Bible two weeks prior to this entry on June 3. Apparently she was less motivated to attend Sunday School now that she had the Bible.

Besse was Grandma’s married sister, and Curt was her husband.

Doing Some Fancy Work

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

Saturday, June 15, 1912:  Well this is Saturday. Saturday, that’s the way my brain must be of the dull sort. Did some fancy work this afternoon.

Detachable Collar (Source: Ladies Home Journal: October, 1911)

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

What type of “fancy work” was Grandma doing? . . . . embroidery . . .  tatting. . .  crocheting . . .?

Was she making something that would decorate her clothes? . . . or was she making it to give as a gift? . . . or to put in her hope chest?

I want to picture her sitting in the living room doing fancy embroidery on pillow cases and sheets in anticipation of finding the right guy and getting married someday—but maybe it was for more immediate needs such as decorating a dress collar.

Had to do the Milking Alone

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

Wednesday, June 12, 1912:  I’m mad at that Ruth tonight. She goes away and leaves me with the milking.

Photo in the May 15, 1912 issue of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer magazine. It’s interesting how the women in the photo wore light-colored clothes while working with cows. I would have thought that dark-colored outfits that wouldn’t show dirt would have been preferred.

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

I wonder if Ruth ever did the milking for Grandma when Grandma went somewhere.  Grandma complained several times in the diary that she had to do the milking for her sister Ruth —but she never wrote that Ruth did the milking for her.

My guess is that both of the Muffly sisters benefited from trading chores—but that Grandma didn’t think  that it was important enough to mention when she was the one who got to go somewhere and miss the milking

When I was a child growing up on a dairy farm, my brother and I often informally traded barn chores so that one of us could do something else. I’d do his chores one day—and he might do mine a few days later.  We never kept track of whether one of us did the chores less often than the other—but my sense was that it balanced out pretty well over time.