Whew, Kids Find the Strangest Things to Do During Long School Breaks!

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

Wednesday, December 27, 1911: Didn’t do so very much today. I guess I read more stories than I did anything else. Ma wasn’t feeling very good this morning so we didn’t get so much done. Oh well, there wasn’t much to do after all. The latest fad of Jimmie’s is a little slender switch, which he calls a spider, a discarded branch of the lower part of the Xmas tree. He makes things lively when he brings it into use.

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

Sounds like Grandma’s six-year-old brother Jimmie was still bored by the long holiday break. The diary entry that I posted yesterday said that Grandma and Jimmie were “turning into fight cats.” I love Grandma’s colorful metaphors.

Photo Source: A group school photo that appeared in The History of the McEwensville Schools by Thomas Kramm

Trying to Memorize 27 Bible Verses

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

Saturday, December 23, 1911:Went after my Xmas tree this afternoon. Ruth made some candy for Christmas. Made a general nuisance of myself all day. Jimmie and I have our scraps occasionally. Just now am trying to commit twenty-seven verses to memory. Have about half of them, and the rest yet to learn.

Biible.verses — Was Grandma memorizing the Christmas story?

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

Whew, 27 verses is a lot! Grandma was trying to memorize 700+ Bible verses so that her Sunday School would give her a Bible. She’d been working on it since sometime prior to September. (I think that I’d give up before I even started, but Grandma apparently was still trying to reach her goal.)

Busy Week Coming to an End

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

Thursday, December 21, 1911: Had to go to Watsontown again this week. This time to get that hat pin for Besse. This week seems to be flying around rather fast. Tomorrow Rufus arrives. Then my long siege of milking will be ended.

DSC03659.crop — Recent photo of downtown Watsontown

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

Yeah, Grandma’s sister Ruth–referred to as Rufus in this entry– was coming home and Grandma won’t need to do all of the milking by herself! Grandma mentioned getting up at 5 a.m. to do the milking on the 18th. Ruth was attending a teacher professional development institute.

Grandma also mentioned on the 18th that she’d bought a gold hat pin for her married sister Besse. She must have needed to go back to town to actually pick up the pin.

Watsontown is located along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River about two miles from the Muffly farm. It had more of a shopping district a hundred years ago than it does today.

Christmas Isn’t Going To Be “As It Ought To Be”

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

Tuesday, December 19, 1911: Fixed up some for Christmas although I guess no one is coming. I like to have things seem like it ought to. Jimmie is so anxious to know what I got your highness.

Recent photo of the house Grandma lived in. The photo was taken at dusk on a December day.

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

I can almost feel Grandma’s pain when she wrote this entry. I wonder why no one was coming—but it makes it feel proud that Grandma did some decorating so that things “looked like they ought to.”

Throughout most of December the diary entries indicated that Grandma was looking forward to Christmas.

What could have possibly been wrong? The diary provides no clues.

Was someone ill? . . . .Had there been a disagreement with someone in the extended family?

People Mentioned in This Post

Jimmie was Grandma’s 6-year-old brother. I think that “your highness” refers to their older sister Ruth. In the diary when Grandma was annoyed with Ruth she used other terms and nicknames (such as Rufus) for her sister.

Mud! Had to Walk the Rails to Town

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

Sunday, December 17, 1911: Went to Sunday School this afternoon taking the longer way up the railroad on account of the awful roads. Besse was out this afternoon to see Ruth’s outfit. Gaugers came down this evening. Must get up early tomorrow morning because Ruthie must depart early.

A hundred years ago Grandma would have walked this track from the Muffly farm to McEwensville. In those days the train track wouldn't have gone under an interstate highway underpass like it does today.

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

The mud must still be horrific. The roads between the Muffly farm and McEwensville were not paved in 1911—but the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick railroad tracks crossed the farm, so Grandma sometimes walked the tracks to town when the roads were muddy. People frequently walked the rails a hundred years ago—though it was considered a somewhat dangerous practice.

Grandma’s married sister Besse must have come out to the farm from the nearby town of Watsontown to see the outfit of their other sister, Ruth.

A previous post mentioned that Ruth was going to an institute. Ruth was a teacher at a nearby one-room school house and I think that she was going to a short teacher professional development institute for part of the holiday break. (Schools had a longer winter break back then.)

The Gauger family lived on a farm that was located between McEwensville and Turbotville. That farm was about two miles from the Muffly farm. Ruth married one of the Gauger children (Bill) several years after the end of this diary . Based upon the diary entries, I don’t think that Ruth was dating Bill Gauger in December, 1911. Also based upon previous posts, I do think that Grandma may have had a crush on Bill in 1911.

Old Tips for Making Tucks and Pleats (Plaits)

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

Saturday, December 16, 1911: Mater is making a skirt for me. Had it fitted this afternoon. It is navy blue and am going to wear it to school. While doing a little bit of sashing, which took some rubbing this afternoon I had the misfortune to make four blisters grow on four fingers. One blister pains somewhat in hot water. It is rather hard on the dishwasher, who has blistered fingers.

Source of Pictures: Ladies Home Journal, January 1912 — Source of drawings: Ladies Home Journal, January 1912

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

Grandma’s mother (Mater) probably used a treadle sewing machine to make the skirt. I wonder if the skirt had any tucks or pleats. The January 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal had an article titled, “How to Make Tucks and Plaits.” (A hundred years ago pleats were often called plaits.)

Here a few quotes:

When using a pattern there must be taken up in each tuck or plait the exact amount that was allowed by the maker of the pattern.

Patterns are perforated; that is, holes are punched through them at the points where the allowances have been made for forming the tucks or plaits, so that the goods may be marked at these points. . .

Tucks and plaits that are marked by two lines of perforations which are to be brought together in forming are easily handled as follows: Lay the goods with the marks on the wrong side up, and put a pin from the under or right side of the good up through one point and down through the other, pinning the two points together. Proceed in like manner with the other points forming the lines, and you will have the fold securely pinned and extending on the right side of the goods. Baste of the right side of the goods in line with the row of pins, and try on the garment before stitching or pressing the tucks or plaits, for the tucks or plaits may be taken up or let out so as to make the garment conform to the shape of the individual.

As forms vary so much in shape it may be necessary to take up goods in one tuck or plait and let out the goods in another, thus changing the shape of the garment but not changing the size.

What Was the Teacher’s Last Name?

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

Tuesday, December 12, 1911: Jake says we have to study harder. It seems to me such tiresome work, but I suppose I could if I tried hard enough. I guess I staid up longer tonight than I did last night, although it is not so very late now.

Lots of resources--none of which answer my question.

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

I’m continually amazed how many mysteries about Grandma’s life as a teen-ager I’ve been able to resolve (at least to my own satisfaction) with a little research. However, occasionally I’m totally baffled by things that I feel like I should be able to figure out. Today is one of those days–.

What was Jake’s last name?

The History of the McEwensville Schools by Thomas Kramm indicates that the teacher during the 1910-11 school year was Howard Northrop; and that there were two teachers during the 1911-12 school year—Howard Northrop and D. Forest Dunkle. And, Leon Hagenbuch in his History of McEwensville lists the same teachers. I suppose they both used the same source—sigh.

I’m not getting anything close to Jake out of those names –but maybe Howard went by a nickname. Grandma’s referred to her teacher several times in the diary as Jake or Jakie. I wonder if she called him Jake to his face or it he was Mr. ____.

Jake seems to be very young for a teacher and almost one of the gang. For example, in the fall Grandma and other girls teased him about drawing a picture of a diamond ring, and the previous winter he fell through the ice while skating one evening with students.