16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, August 8, 1911: Went over to see Carrie on an errand, but came back in about fifteen minutes as I had a rebellious heifer to keep out of the orchard.
Recent distant view of the Muffly fields from the road near her friend Carrie Stout's home. (I wonder where the orchard once was.) Today it would be impossible to see the Muffly fields once the leaves are on the trees--but maybe it was more open back then.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The Muffly family seemed to have a lot of problems with the cows getting into places where they weren’t supposed to be. Twice during the summer of 1911 Grandma wrote about cows getting into the corn (July 10 and July 25), and on May 26 she wrote “I’m through watching cows for the present time—at least. That was my duty for one wk.”
I continue to think that the family would have used barbed wire to fence the pasture but maybe they didn’t. And, even if there were fences maybe the cows were able to escape (cows can be very adept at finding holes in fences).
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, August 6, 1911: Went to Sunday school this morning. Carrie and I took a short stroll this afternoon. We had intended to take a longer one, but we decided that it would be too hot. We talked about getting up a picnic, and the thought may be carried into execution. Who knows.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma mentioned the hot weather several times during Summer 1911. The other times I could find articles in old newspapers which confirmed that the weather had been very hot on that date. But I can’t find anything in 1911 newspapers about unusually hot weather on August 6. Maybe the sun just felt really hot to Grandma and her friend Carrie Stout even though the temperature wasn’t particularly high.
In the process of looking for the weather in the August 6, 1911 issue of the New York Times I noticed an article that began:
Narrower Skirts Next Autumn—So Says Rumor, but No One Has an Idea What the Arbiters of Fashion Will Decree
Rumor is rife these days. It is said that skirts are to be narrower than ever in the Autumn; that all waists are to be excessively short; that divided skirts will be the rule . . . .
New York Times, August 6, 1911
Hmm—I’ve heard a rumor that the arbitrators of fashion are saying that narrower skirts are in for this upcoming autumn.
When I read the New York Times article, I remembered that I’d seen these drawings of a type of narrow skirt–the trouser skirt–in the June, 1911 issue of Ladies Home Journal.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, August 5, 1911: Am still driving my swift steeds, but it isn’t for very long. One thing I am glad of is that it isn’t dusty a bit, but will soon be.
Is this the field where Grandma drove the horses?
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma was probably leading horses that were hitched to a roller that leveled plowed earth in preparation for planting winter wheat seeds.
Grandma mentioned that she was learning to drive horses in the August 2 diary entry (see that posting for a photo of a horse-drawn roller).
I think that Grandma was being sarcastic when she called the horses “swift steeds.” In the previous diary entry she said that the horses were not fun to drive because they were old and slow.
Friday, August 4, 1911: Went to Watsontown this afternoon to finish that errand, which I had made on Monday. I had to walk in the rain going in and in the sun coming out.
Recent view of the homes that Grandma would have walked by as she entered Watsontown. (Wish it had been raining when I took this photo so it would better match the diary entry.)And, the view as she left Watsontown. (Wish it had been sunny when I took the photo!)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This entry makes little sense to me. I can’t figure out what type of errand might require two trips to town. Earlier in the week I’d thought that Grandma probably went shopping Now I don’t know.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, August 1, 1911:
Summer’s passing onward, August’s here at hand.
Everybody’s busy, don’t you understand!
Summer’s passing onward, soon it will be o’er,
And these summer days will come again no more.
I went over to Stout’s this evening on purpose to give her a present, for today is her birthday. I mean Miss Carrie (of course). I am pretty much cooled off now having got so terrible mad at the cows and the supper dishes this evening.
Me standing on the bridge that Grandma would have crossed when she walked over to Carrie Stout's house. (The bridge appears to be really old--I wonder if this is the exact bridge that Grandma crossed or if it was replaced years ago.)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma included a poem on the first day of each month. Every month I’m intrigued by the poems—some of them are a little better than others—and I continue to wonder whether Grandma copied the monthly poems from a source or whether she wrote them herself.
Poems were more popular a hundred years ago than they are now. Back then students were required to regularly memorize poetry in school —and there were resource books filled with poetry. Women’s magazine also often contained poetry.
Carrie’s Birthday
What did Grandma give her friend Carrie Stout for her birthday? Back in March for Grandma’s birthday, Carrie gave her a “dainty white apron” that Grandma’s mother called “only a patch” so I assume this gift was of similar value.
Terrible Mad
It sounds like Grandma had a rough day—Did she get kicked by a cow? . and break a dish when doing the supper dishes? .. . or maybe a cow kicked a bucket of milk over? . . . or did the cows again escape from the pasture and get into the corn field? (Grandma needed to chase them out of the corn on July 10 and July 25.)
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, July 30, 1911: Went to Sunday school this afternoon. Was the only one present in our class, even our teacher wasn’t there. Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Seibert were here this afternoon. Saw him today.
The McEwensville Baptist Church building is long gone, but it once was in this area of McEwensville.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Whew, it doesn’t sound like there was much of a Sunday School class—no teacher and one student. Did Grandma attend another class with people in a different age group or did she just go home?
I wonder how many students were in the class on a typical week. Two Sunday’s ago Grandma had also written that she was the only student in her class.
Every Sunday since Grandma began keeping the diary in January she has said that she went to Sunday School. She must have generally found Sunday School to be meaningful—and I guess these summer Sunday’s were exceptions.
I have no idea who Mr. and Mrs. Charles Seibert were.
I think that “him” refers to a guy Grandma liked. The previous day she’d written that she’d had quite a good time at a festival in McEwensville and that “He was there. B.”
I think that this entry was referring to the same guy.
I wish that Grandma had used the complete names of guys she liked—but instead she always used initials or pronouns.
I guess that Grandma worried that her mother or sister Ruth would read the diary—though I’d think that they would have known who B. referred to–so initials seem unnecessary. But to the teen-ager writing the diary it probably felt safer to not refer to guys by name.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, July 29, 1911: Carrie and I went to a festival up at McEwensville this evening. I had quite a good time. He was there. B.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I especially enjoy posting the diary entries when there are parallels between events a hundred years ago and now.
Grandma and her friend Carrie Stout had quite a good time at the festival in McEwensville a hundred years ago. Last Friday I had quite a good time at the annual McEwensville community picnic.
2011 McEwensville Annual Picnic
I was in central Pennsylvania and my husband and I went to McEwensville to take photos to illustrate this blog. The car thermometer said it was 102. When I got out of the car, I immediately wilted and was soaked in sweat.
A woman I’d never met came out of a house and invited me to the annual community picnic later in the day. (Until she invited me I had no clue that McEwensville had an annual picnic–let alone that it was on a day when I was in town.)
My husband and I went and had a great time. Electric fans dissipated some of the heat–and there was great food and lots of wonderful conversation. We met many wonderful new people and renewed old connections.
I think that Grandma and I would have agreed on at least one thing—McEwensville is a fun place!!
