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

Thursday, November 19, 1914: <<no entry>>

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

Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I’m going to go off on a tangent—

Sometimes I’m surprised how thoughts of Grandma pop into my head at the least expected times.

Last week-end my husband and I had friends over for dinner. It was almost time for them to arrive and I still hadn’t set the table.

I pulled some cloth napkins out of a drawer-and thought with dismay—“Dang it, I’m going to have to iron them.”

Annoyed, I dragged my heavy ironing board out of the closet—and suddenly thought—”Did Grandma also dislike lugging this hefty ironing board around?”

This makes perfect sense because I have Grandma’s ironing board.

She passed many years ago. It was shortly after I got married, and I needed an ironing board. So when the grandchildren were given an opportunity to select items they would like from her house—one of the things I chose was the ironing board.

I’ve used the ironing board for more than 35 years. It’s probably 60 or 70 years old (and probably could easily last another 60 or 70 years).  I replaced the ironing board cover once a few years ago—but that’s it. It might be heavy, but it is also darn sturdy.

 

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

Wednesday, November 18, 1914:  Today passed as other days. A few flakes flew this morning. Wish the snow would get down to business, for then I wouldn’t have to look after the cows. Today they went off to a neighbors and I had to walk after them.

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

Hmm—apparently the cows were still out in the pasture, but after it snows they will be confined to the barn. During past summers Grandma mentioned several times that she needed to watch the cows. For example, on August 26, 1911, she wrote:

Everything seemed to have gone wrong today. Hard to tell what the cause really is. I have to watch the cows, and I don’t like it but school will soon start and then that task will be ended.

And, on May 18, 1912 she wrote:

What a doleful calamity. I had to watch the cows this morning, I mean this afternoon. I’m afraid that this is only the beginning. They got into the wheat for me.

This is the first time Grandma mentioned watching cows in the Fall in the diary—and I think that it’s the first time that she mentioned it in 1914.

I remain clueless as to why the cows needed to be watched. It still seems like they should have been securely contained in a field fenced with barbed wire, but obviously they weren’t (or if there was a fence it wasn’t strong enough).

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

Wednesday, November 11, 1914: <<no entry>>

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

Grandma –

Are you okay? You were so sad three days ago when your “third romance ended in tragedy.” I’m concerned about you now. How are you dealing with your heartache?

—

A hundred years ago, people thought about emotions a little differently than we do now. Here some quotes from a hundred-year-old book:

Worry is a type of fear. It is a futile regret over past mistakes and the miserable forecasting of the future.

As no one’s future can be clear throughout, there is never wanting the matter of anxiety to a mind susceptible of this state.

And, not only the imagination, but the intellect, the emotions, and the will have or may have a powerful influence over the sensations and organic functions.

Mental attitude refers not to the will or the emotions, but to the mind in its entirety. The trend of a woman’s thoughts, the use she makes of her intellect, the strength of the volition, the sense of responsibility, and the objects of her life are all questions that have a distinct bearing upon the bodily functions and the health of the individual.

Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for Women (1911) by Anna Galbraith

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

Monday, November 9, 1914:  The same old tune, the old cow died. That reminds me of Pa’s increase, namely cows. They arrived today.

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

Hmm. . . what did Grandma mean by the old cow died?

My first thought: Did a cow on the farm die? . . .Or was Grandma thinking about the end of her romance, and the phrase was an idiom that meant something else?

So I googled it, and discovered that there actually is a song called The Old Cow Died. According to Information Please, the words are:

The Old Cow Died

There was an old man,

and he had an old cow,

But he had no fodder to give her.

So he took up his fiddle and played her the tune:

`Consider, good cow, consider.

This isn’t the time for the grass to grow.

Consider, good cow, consider.’

You can also listen to it (with slightly different words) at: Smithsonian Folkways (click on “play sample”).

I’m still left wondering why the song popped into Grandma’s head. Maybe it was because her father bought some new cows. . . or maybe a somewhat melancholy song was just the right song to hum as she worked her way through the ending of a relationship.

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

Friday, November 6, 1914:  <<no entry>>

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

Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I thought that you might enjoy an article in Grandma’s local paper, the Milton Evening Standard, about the showing of a news reel about the War at the local theater.

(I should have posted this back in September. Somehow I lost track of it then, but decided that is still worth posting—even if it is a little late.)