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

Saturday, October 21, 1911: Rufus and Ma went to Milton today. Ruth got a jacket suit and Ma bought me a pair of shoes. They’re for school so you see I didn’t care so much if I wasn’t there to try them on.

It’s the style, not shoe, that costs.

Quote from The News About Shoes (Good Housekeeping Magazine, October, 1911)

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

To clarify this entry—Grandma’s sister Ruth and her mother went shopping.  Sometimes in the diary Grandma referred to Ruth as Rufus—and in this entry she co-mingled two names for the same person.

I’m surprised that Grandma’s mother didn’t take her along to buy shoes, and that Grandma was only slightly annoyed.  . . Or . . . [another scenario, based on my second read through of this diary entry] maybe Grandma was really angry when she wrote it and was trying to convince herself that it really was okay.

Shoe sizes must have been very standardized way back then if someone could buy shoes for another person; or maybe Grandma wore the same size shoe as her mother or sister.

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

Sunday, October 15, 1911: Went to Sunday School this morning. My verses that I am learning for that Bible has decreased some, but I’m still at it.

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

Grandma was trying to memorize Bible verses to get a free Bible. On September 17 she wrote:

. . .One reason for my regular attendance is that if you learn a number of verses from the Bible (over 700 it is) you will in the course of time receive a Bible.. .

And on September 24 she wrote:

 . . . Only learned seven verses for today. Usually have twenty-seven . . .

I wonder how many she memorized this week. I can’t even imagine trying to memorize 27 verses a week. No wonder the number of verses  has decreased over time.

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

Friday, October 13, 1911: Ruth and I went up to Oakes’ this evening and arrived home in  no time.

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

It was a Friday night. I wonder why Grandma and her sister Ruth didn’t stay long.

The Oakes lived on a farm near the Muffly’s. Several of the Oakes children were close in age to  Grandma and  Ruth. Rachel Oakes was a friend and also the primary school teacher at McEwensville.

Several times during the spring and early summer Grandma mentioned in the diary that Ruth was dating Jim Oakes—though he hasn’t been mentioned recently so perhaps that relationship ended sometime prior to this date.

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

Tuesday, October 10, 1911: Wound up with our examinations today. Don’t think I made a good mark in algebra. I have such a sore thumb! Mighty.

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

The previous day’s entry also indicated that Grandma was taking exams. And, diary entries the preceding winter and spring mentioned exams on consecutive days.

These entries imply that students at McEwensville High School took periodic exams in all subject areas on successive days. The school only had one teacher—so it seems as if the multiple exams spread over two days were by design.

Whew, I’m glad that I wasn’t a student a hundred years ago. I remember when I was a high school student how much I hated it when several teachers gave tests close together. (I did learn how to successfully take multiple exams one after the other for college finals—but never liked it.)

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

Sunday, October 8, 1911: Ruth and I went down to Aunt Lizzie’s near Montandon. Such a time as we had this afternoon a hunting chestnuts and walking around. We went down on the train and came home that way. Tuu (??) took us to the depot on the return trip. Such a pain as I had a coming home. I guess I ate too much dinner.

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

Sounds like a fun Sunday. Montandon is about 10 miles south of the Muffly farm.  Grandma and her sister Ruth would have taken the train that ran from Watsontown to Milton and then on to Montandon.

I’m not sure whether Aunt Lizzie (Elizabeth) was a good cook or a poor one since Grandma ended up with a stomach ache—though the entry seems to indicate that Grandma must have enjoyed the food.

Aunt Lizzie was a sister of Grandma’s father, Albert Muffly. I’m not sure who she married—and can’t quite read Grandma’s handwriting in the diary to figure out who took them to the train station.

Albert Muffly was the fourth child of Samuel K. and Charlotte Muffly. He was born in 1857. Lizzie was born in 1862 and was the seventh child in the family. Samuel K. and Charlotte had eleven children.

For more on the Muffly family genealogy see these previous postings:

I’m at Least 0.4% Swiss!

Grandma’s Parents

Two Bachelor Uncles