Thin Ice!

15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:

Friday, January 27, 1911. Went to school this morning and about the first thing I heard was our teacher breaking through the ice, while skating last night. We had visitors at school this afternoon. Guess I’ll stop now.

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

Whew, it’s lucky that her teacher Jakie apparently wasn’t hurt in the skating accident. I guess the creek wasn’t frozen solid enough for safe skating.

It amazed me how informally Grandma referred to her teacher as Jakie in previous diary entries—and this entry also suggests that Jakie may have been a very young teacher who hung out with the students.

Is It Safe for Skating?

15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:

Thursday, January 26, 1911. Walked home from school with some girls who were going skating. I staid up later than usual tonight to get my lessons out. Did it because I had to. They weren’t hard, but they took some thinking.

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

Everyone’s life falls into a routine with one day being much like the next. For Grandma there was the repetitive routine of walking the mile and a half of so to and from school each day. Some days the road was snowy–others it was muddy. She’s probably wearing a coat and long skirt. And her shoes are probably encased in the new rubbers (low rubber boots that are pulled on over shoes) that she mentioned on the 19^th.

The walk probably seemed long—and cold. Having other girls accompany her home apparently was a nice change in routine. This post continues to suggest that some of the best skating in the area was on the creek near the Muffly farm.

I’m surprised that the creek was frozen enough to skate on. Rain and mud are mentioned several times in the January diary entries. For example, on January 24—just two days before this entry— Grandma wrote, “It’s getting so terribly muddy.”

Did Grandma join the others and skate?—or did she just continue on home? Maybe she needed to milk the cows or do other farm chores –though she has not mentioned that she does any farm chores so far in the diary.

Direct Election of Senators and Other Boring (or Not So Boring) Topics

15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:

Wednesday, January 25, 1911. Oh what did I do today? About the same things as I do on other days. I’m sure it wasn’t so very much. Just the same old routine with no breaks.

Local Front Page News a 100 Years Ago:

INSURGENTS FORM NATIONAL LEAGUE

PROGRESSIVES UNITE TO BRING ABOUT REFORM–TO ORGANIZE STATE BODIES

Senators, Governors and Congressmen Will Work For Direct Election of Senators, the Recall and Other Reforms

Milton Evening Standard, January 24, 1911

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

My gut feeling is that if my 15-year-old grandmother read this headline that she yawned, and moved on to the next article. Hey, she was already yawning from boredom—why would articles about complex national issues pique the interest of a rural teen? But maybe, just maybe, her teacher at McEwensville High School pulled topics of national importance into his lessons–and she might have had a basic understanding of the issue.

A hundred years ago US senators were not elected by popular vote. Instead they were elected by state legislators. In 1911 muckrakers argued that the system led to corruption and that industrialists and robber barons had undue influence in selecting senators. (The 17th Amendment, which was adopted in 1913, instituted the direct election of senators.)

Many social issues and governance issues were bubbling in the public conscience in 1911. Two other amendments were also adopted during the 1910s–the 16th in 1913 (it gave the federal government the right to collect income taxes) and the 19th in 1919 (prohibition). And, in 1920 the 20th amendment gave women the right to vote. I can picture high school students debating the pros and cons of prohibition and women’s suffrage. Did Grandma take a stand on either issue?

1911 Books That Have Stood the Test of Time

15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:

Wednesday, January 18, 1911: Got a book out of the library at school today, which I’ll have to manage to read pretty soon, as soon as I get time.

Her middle-aged grand-daughter’s comments 100 years later:

Tuesday, January 18, 2010: Goodreads lists 180 books published in 1911 that are still in print. These probably were not the most popular books at the time, but rather they are the books that have endured –and whose message apparently continues to resonate a hundred years later.

Fourteen books on the list that I recognized the title or author of are listed below.

1. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (Barrie published the children’s story in 1911–he’d written the play a few years earlier.)

All children, except one, grow up.

First line of Peter Pan

2. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

3. Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

4. My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir

5. The Door in the Wall by H.G. Wells

6. The Scarlet Plague by Jack London

7. Under Western Eyes by Joseph Conrad

8. Jennie Gerhardt by Theodore Dreiser

9. The Quest of the Golden Fleece by W.E.B. DuBois

10. The Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum

11.The Montessori Method by Marie Montessori

12. Roget International Thesaurus by Peter Mark Roget

13. The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Taylor

14. The Official Handbook for Boys by The Boys Scouts of America

The books cover the gamut, but they give an indication of some of the key issues of 1911–social norms (Wharton), civil rights (Dubois), good management (Taylor’s famous–or perhaps infamous–time-motion studies measured how long it took factory workers to complete various tasks with the goal of increasing efficiency), early childhood education (Montessori), revolutionary movements (Conrad), and the environment (Muir). It’s amazing how some of the issues haven’t really changed much in 100 years–while in other cases the whole paradigm has shifted.

Winter Activities

15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today

Tuesday, January 17, 1911. Miss Stout was over this evening, wanted me to go skating or else sliding with her down on the creek with the rest of the gang. I choose to stay at home, and there I remained, and here I am at the present time.

News From Exactly 100 Years Ago Today

Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as governor of New Jersey on January 17, 1911. Prior to becoming governor he was the president of Princeton University. He was elected president of the United States less than two years later in November 1913.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later

Monday, January 17, 2010. It must have gotten colder and snowed since the entry three days ago when the diary reported that it was raining. Warrior Run Creek flows through the edge of the Muffly farm. I’m surprised that the creek froze enough to skate on. Maybe they somehow flooded nearby land to create a homemade skating rink.

Recent photo of Warrior Run Creek (though taken at a different time of year). The old Muffly barn is in the background.

Grandma’s friend, Carrie Stout, lived on a farm about half way between McEwensville and the Muffly farm. (See Setting page for map and photo.)

Soon I’ll Turn Into A Recluse

15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:

Monday, January 16, 1911: How the days do fly, half-a month gone already. Can hardly realize it, but I have to. I just do wish something would occur to break the same old terrible routine of mine. But it’s always ditto. I’ll soon turn into a recluse, or perhaps something worse, if something won’t happen.

Her middle-aged grand-daughter’s reflection 100 years later.

January 16, 2010. Hmm . . . I wonder if Grandma often said throughout her life that she might become a recluse?

When I’ve asked people who knew Grandma what they remember, several said that she became somewhat reclusive in her later years. They even used those exact words.

Is this entry a prediction of the future? . . . or did Grandma’s concerns lead people to draw that conclusion? . . . Maybe it was a little of both.

My memory is that Grandma was very elderly—but I don’t think of her as a recluse. She lived in a little brick bungalow on a rural road. She didn’t know how to drive, and was dependent on relatives for transportation.

After my grandfather died my uncle always brought Grandma to church. And, after church and Sunday school, our family always took her home. We often took her to McDonald’s for lunch before taking her home .

Back then the closest McDonald’s was in Montoursville—about 20 miles from McEwensville—so it was a nice Sunday drive. Everyone in our neck of the woods was thrilled that city restaurants were finally coming to rural Pennsylvania—and felt incredibly cool and urbane to be eating at McDonalds.

Yikes—how could we have been brainwashed by the media enough to believe that French fries and hamburgers were better than the home-produced foods we normally ate? (I can’t believe that my memory is right—but I think you could buy a hamburger for 25 cents in the mid-1960s). But at least we considered McDonald’s food to be a Sunday treat—not something to wolf down on a regular basis. In any case, it was a nice outing with Grandma.

Some of my strongest memories of Grandma are of those Sundays–and of her, my brother, and me squeezed into the back seat of my parent’s Dodge Monaco. Some weeks Grandma was very quiet and just endured my brother’s and my pushes and shoves —but other weeks she talked about making pickles . . . or gardening . . . or whatever.

Cold, Dark, January Nights

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

Sunday, January 15, 1911: Hardly remember what I did today. This evening I accompanied my lofty sister up to Oakes.

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

Grandma had two sisters. Besse and Ruth. Besse was the oldest and already married by the time Grandma began keeping this diary. Ruth was 3 years older than Grandma and still lived at home—so this entry must be referring to Ruth. I wonder why Grandma refers to Ruth as lofty?

Grandma would have walked down this road past another neighbor's farm to get to Oakes--except imagine that it is dark and very cold.

The Oakes family lived on a farm that was located about a mile from where Grandma lived. Grandma and Ruth would have gone down the road that went past their farm in the opposite direction from the way they headed when going to McEwensville.

I don’t like to go out after dark on cold, dark January nights. Grandma and Ruth would have gone up a hill and then turned into a lane to get to the Oakes home. Did they walk to Oakes—or did they ride in a carriage or wagon? Was there a full moon? Did they take a lantern?