Category: Other

Hundred-Year-Old Christmas Gift Suggestion: Nightgowns and Robes

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

Thursday, December 7, 1911: Really there’s nothing to write about except that which isn’t worth writing about.

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

Since Grandma didn’t write much today, I’ll share some more pictures from the December 1911 issue of Ladies Home Journal. It’s apparently been a tradition for many years to give sleep wear as a Christmas gift.

There's even misletoe in the woman's hand!

There were two articles in the magazine that showed pictures of nightgowns and robes that readers could buy patterns to make. One article was called,  “What Should I Make My Friends?” and the other was titled, “The Christmas Negligee—Suitable for the Young Girl as Well as the Matron”

In every woman’s wardrobe there is a place for useful negligees, and surely no more adaptable gift could be found for the comfort-loving woman . . .

Had to Walk Home in the Snow

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

Sunday, December 3, 1911: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Coming home it was snowing and I was rather dubious as to whether my new hat would take it all right or not, but it did.

Source: National Climatic Data Center

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

It sounds like a blustery winter day. I found the weather data for December, 1911 for Williamsport, Pennsylvania on the National Climatic Data Center website.

Williamsport is about 20 miles northwest of McEwensville. According to the observation sheet, on December 3, 1911 the high was 46 degrees and the low was 31. It also indicated that there was a trace of snow  and that the wind was coming from the southwest.

The sheet said that there was 3 inches of snow on the ground—which seems somewhat surprising because the previous day’s entry did not indicate any snow on the ground.

Williamsport is across a mountain from McEwensville—so maybe the weather wasn’t as bad there as it was where Grandma was walking. But I wouldn’t expect there to be major differences in the weather between the two towns (and in general I think that it would be a little warmer in McEwenville).

I suppose that it really was just a raw day with some snow flurries—but that the mile or so walk between the church in McEwensville and the Muffly farm was pretty miserable (especially if you were worried that your new hat might get ruined).

Aprons a Hundred Years Ago

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

Friday, December 1, 1911:

The dying year around us a glory sheds

December with her pleasures breaks upon the scene,

Around our hearts a happy gladness lies

Christmas is coming with her laurels of green.

Didn’t have school today. Had a notion to go a visiting, but then didn’t, as I had some particular work, which I wanted done. Well, as Thanksgiving is over, I am looking forward to Christmas, hoping some pleasant surprises awaits me. Vice versa of Jan. 31.

Source of Photos: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1911)

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

I wonder if Grandma was planning to make any gifts for family or friends. If she wanted to make aprons, she could have ordered patterns from Ladies Home Journal.

According to a December, 1911 article called the “The Pretty Christmas Apron:”

Odds and ends of the piece-bag and remnants from the bargain counter may be utilized to make these pretty aprons.

Good Grade in Algebra!

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

Tuesday, November 28, 1911: Exams are over thank goodness. I made ninety in Algebra, instead of the one I made last month. I must make some good resolutions and study better next month for I have much need to study. Came near missing a day at school.

Recent photo of the building that once housed McEwensville High School.

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

Yeah!! Grandma got 90% in algebra!! In October she’d only gotten 68%.  Her studying over the previous couple days apparently paid off.

It’s silly to vicariously celebrate a minor success that occurred a hundred years ago, yet I get so involved in the diary story that it somehow seems appropriate to feel pleased when Grandma had a good day.

The Sisters Had a Fight

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

Monday, November 26, 1911:Had exams today. Wonder what some of my marks are. Rufus and I had a squabble tonight over such a trifle. She pummeled me so hard on the head that I had a headache for a while. I guess school marms can lay it on sometimes.

Ruth Muffly

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

Whew . . . it sounds the two sisters had a terrible fight. In the diary Grandma sometimes–—especially when she was annoyed or angry– referred to her sister Ruth as Rufus.

In November 1911, Grandma was 16 years old and Ruth as 19. Ruth was a teacher (i.e., school marm) at one of the one-room schools near McEwensville. What could have possibly angered them so much?

“I don’t know what I know”

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

Wednesday, November 22, 1911: Am trying to recover what I do not know that I missed during the month. I am pretty far behind and it is going to take some studying.

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

I love the line Grandma used in this entry—“Am trying to recover what I do not know that I missed during the month.”

It reminds me of the mastery matrix.

The worst quadrant to be in is the one where you don’t know what you don’t know—but at least you are comfortable there in your ignorance.

I think that Grandma was in the most frustrating quadrant. She knew that she didn’t know something—but she couldn’t quite get a handle on what it was.

An Outlandish Fib

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

Monday, November 20, 1911:We got a good joke off on Carrie at school today. It was a most outlandish fib she told, and oh so shocking.

Recent photo of the school that Grandma and Carrie attended.

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

Hmm. . . what was the story behind this entry? Carrie Stout was a friend of Grandma’s. I can’t quite figure out a probable relationship between a fib and the others (the class?) somehow playing a joke on Carrie.

Maybe Carrrie lied about homework? . . .but what would be the follow-up joke?

Or maybe she lied about why she was late getting to school? . . . and then the class . . .did what??

I might as well quit guessing. Some things are just impossible to figure out a hundred years later.