17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, March 30, 1912:Had to put things in some kind of order. Mended some of the rips and tears. No one else wants the position.
Torn overalls--An aside (An aside--in addition to frequent tears, farm work clothes often get stained by grease, soil, etc.)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Farm work is hard—and clothes often get torn.
Some things probably changed little between the time that Grandma was a teen and the time that I was a teen.
I have strong memories of there always being a pile of work clothes that need to be mended when I was growing up. On “slow” days it was common to do the mending.
One difference was that I used an electric sewing machine and Grandma would have used a treadle sewing machine.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, March 29, 1912: At school we always march out, and so you see you are supposed to keep step. But woe betide me, I don’t do it exactly right. Mr. Teacher has gone for me three times about it. This afternoon took me by the arm and walked me along part way.
Recent view of the building that once housed McEwensville School. The high school was on the second floor (and the primary school was on the first).
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Hmm—sometimes, I’m not exactly sure what to make of a diary entry. And, this is one of those times . . .
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, March 26, 1912: Seems I have more work to do tonight than I usually do. I have most of it done now and am ready to lay it aside. I get kinda afraid sitting here all by myself.
Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What time it was when Grandma wrote this entry? It must have been really late—and the rest of the family had gone to bed hours before.
I wonder what Grandma worried about as she sat there alone. . . things that go bump in the night?. . . her future? . . . her school work? . . . tramps possibly lurking outside? . . .???
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, March 24, 1912:I haven’t much to write today.
Recent photo of two small businesses in McEwensville–a beauty/barber shop and a bicycle shop.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write much today, I’m going to go off on a tangent—
I happened upon a list of qualities needed to succeed in business in a 1912 magazine, and was surprised how relevant the list still seems today.
Qualities Needed to Succeed in Business
Health
Honesty
Ability
Initiative
Knowledge of the Business
Tact
Sincerity
Industry
Open-Mindedness
Enthusiasm
Organization
The most important thing is to organize ourselves—make ourselves do the important work. We succeed only in proportion as we get the best work from other people. So I say let’s not drive tacks with a sledge hammer. Let the people who are carrying tack hammers do tack hammer work. If you are carrying a sledge hammer, do heavy work. Do the most important things in your business. Leave the details to other people.
Rural Manhood Magazine, Jan. 1912 (Published by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, March 24, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. It was slushy walking and kept on drizzling.
Jimmie threatened with the whooping cough. I don’t want him to get it, nor do I want to get it myself. I would have to stop school if I do, and that I shouldn’t like to.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Sounds like miserable weather. Grandma had worried in her March 9 post that she was getting whooping cough—now she had similar worries about her six-year-old brother Jimmy.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, March 21, 1912: On the first day of spring the ground is white with snow. My seventeenth birthday dawned this morning. Tried to make the most of it. I received two presents. I am staying up later this evening to study longer, also want to see the passing of my birthday.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I hereby truthfully resolve to be a better and more useful girl in the future than I have been in the past, and may this birthday resolution never be broken.
I sign myself,
Helena Muffly,
Mar. 21, 1911
I wonder if Grandma remembered her resolution—and if she felt like she’d kept it over the course of the year.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, March 20, 1912: I lost myself in reading a book, and as a result went to bed at a quarter of three this morning. I was awfully sleepy when I woke up.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Wow, Grandma must have been reading an awesome book if she stayed up until almost three a.m. And, it was even a school night!!
What could the book have been? A mystery? . A romance?
I bet that she wasn’t reading The Financier by Theodore Dreiser.
Photo source: Wikipedia
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A couple months ago I wrote a post about books published in 1912 that are still in print—and The Financier was one of them.
In this era of Bernie Madoff and Occupy Wall Street, I wanted to see if a hundred-year-old novel about a crooked financier would still seem relevant.
The book told the story of a man in Philadelphia who misused municipal money to become very, very rich.
Due to unexpected circumstances, the whole scheme unraveled and he went to jail.
I found the details of his financial scheming confusing and boring—but I did get insights into the psychology of someone who might commit financial fraud.
The book also explored social norms, and seemed very supportive of extra-marital affairs and divorce in a era when divorce was very rare—though the characters had to pay a price for finding happiness.
After the financier got out of jail—he did what he was born to do. He moved to Chicago and again became rich as he helped to develop the Commodity Exchange.
Bottom line: The book wasn’t optimistic that human nature will change—and suggested that some people just are born to know how to make money, even if it hurts others.
