18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, February 5, 1914: Got through with our affair at the church. Made quite a break, and guess that made me forget part of my recitation.
I can picture Grandma’s friends in their long skirts sitting in the pews listening to the recitation. (Photo source: Wikimedia Commons)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma—I’m sorry that your recitation didn’t go well. What a downer!
—-
Previous diary entries said that the Christian Endeavor Union was holding a week of services in McEwensville—and that Grandma was learning a speech to give at the service on Thursday. An entry also suggested that she may have been part of a skit or singing group at the service.
This entry doesn’t quite make sense to me. What does “ made quite a break mean?” . . . and why would it cause Grandma to forget part of her recitation?
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 4, 1914: Was up to service and practice this evening.
I’m not sure where the Christian Endeavor services were held, but in 1912, a Christian Endeavor Convention was held at the Reformed Church (today called St. John’s United Church of Christ).
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The Christian Endeavor Union was holding a week of services in McEwensville. On Sunday, February 1 Grandma wrote:
I went up to attend some kind of C.E. Union, any way that is my definition of it. Said services are to be held every night this week. Thurs. night is when we girls take part.
Grandma apparently was going to give a speech at the service the following night—and needed to practice it. She wrote about going to a practice on January 28, and about learning the speech on January 29. Maybe Grandma and “the girls” were also singing or doing a skit since several practices were required.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Christian Endeavor is an interdenominational Protestant youth organization that was founded in 1881. The encyclopedia says that:
The purpose of the International Society of Christian Endeavor is “to promote an earnest Christian life among its members, to increase their mutual acquaintance, to train them for work in the church, and in every way to make them useful in the service of God and their fellow men.”
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, February 2, 1914: Really there’s nothing doing for today. Got a paper, so I digested that this afternoon.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Milton Evening Standard (January 5, 1912)
Grandma may have read the Milton Evening Standard. It was published in a nearby town. This is part of the front page for January 5, 1912, so it’s not the issue Grandma would have been reading, but it gives an example of typical headlines—
Politicians arguing about who will replace a deceased court clerk before he is even buried.
Cold Weather
A high salary offer for a baseball coach
—-
Whew, was getting a newspaper the exception rather than the rule in the Muffly household? I am amazed that Grandma considered it worth noting in the diary when she got a paper.
I’d always assumed that Grandma read one of the local newspapers every day—but maybe she didn’t.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, February 1, 1914:
Something nice for you, I’m thinking
Yet somehow my thoughts will stray
Every one is so much rubbish.
Tis a failure that I say.
Sunday school was this afternoon instead of this morning. I rather liked the preacher they had. Ruth and I. I was going to say since that is a phrase so often, but doesn’t fit in here after all. Well Ruth staid up at Helen’s and I went up to attend some kind of C.E. Union, any way that is my definition of it. Said services are to be held every night this week. Thurs. night is when we girls take part. Came home with Ruth since that was what I went up for.
The road Grandma would have walked to McEwensville.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
This is a long entry for Grandma—yet it also seems particularly disjointed and I have difficulty following her train of thought.
Monthly Poem
Grandma began the month with a poem—as she did on the 1st of every month. Many monthly poems were about the season or typical weather (the harvest in October, sweet summer in August).
What was Grandma trying to say in this poem? The first line may refer to Valentine’s Day—or the unidentified guy she liked who she referred to as “he” in other entries. But then the poem seems to take a darker turn.
Sunday School
The church must have had a substitute pastor or a preacher seeking a call. The previous preacher at Grandma’s church preached his farewell sermon on January 4.
C.E. Union
C.E. Union referred to the Christian Endeavor Union. It is a nondenominational evangelical organization that periodically held events in McEwensville. On October 30, 1912 Grandma wrote about attending a Christian Endeavor convention in McEwensville.
The last few days Grandma was practicing a speech. It sounds like she would give it at a Christian Endeavor event later in the week.
Friends
Helen Wesner and Carrie Stout were friends of Grandma and her sister Ruth.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, January 30, 1914: Was over to Carrie’s this afternoon. I’m off on a vacation now. My music teacher didn’t come this morning.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I wonder why Grandma’s piano teacher didn’t come. Was the weather bad?
Grandma seems like she was acting a bit childish in this entry. You’d think that she could continue to enjoy playing the piano—and not take “a vacation” even though her teacher didn’t assign any new songs to learn.
Sometimes Grandma seems like an adult—other times like a kid. . . maybe that’s just the way 18-year-old are.
—
Carrie Stout was a friend of Grandma’s who lived on a nearby farm.
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, January 29, 1914: Am learning a speech, sometimes I manage to say quite a bit, and then I get stuck.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Hmm. . . Grandma apparently was going to give a speech at church. The previous day she wrote:
Ruth and I went up to town this evening. I am in some kind of a thing that’s to be given in the church. Went up to practice . . .
What was the topic? The minister at her church had recently left, and a new one had not yet been called. Maybe parishioners were trying to fill the gap.
The previous spring, back when Grandma was a high school senior, she was energized when she was in the class play, and when she was a graduation speaker. Hopefully this speech will be equally rewarding.
Here’s a few previous diary entries about how she felt about the play and the graduation speech:
Day of Class Play
. . . Our play went off pretty well, although we did make some slight mistakes. I cut quite a splash after I was all fixed up . . .
. . . At last I arrived at the church. We marched in and so on up to the front of the church, where we took seats in uncomfortable chairs and managed to sit out the evening. I recited my essay without a mental breakdown and then at last all was over, after which came congratulations and well wishes. . . .
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, January 28, 1914: Ruth and I went up to town this evening. I am in some kind of a thing that’s to be given in the church. Went up to practice. We had quite a bit of fun even if we did have to work some at making crosses.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What fun!. . . Spending a winter evening with friends sounds wonderful. What was the upcoming event at the church that Grandma was practicing for? And, what were the crosses she was helping make?
Maybe they were making crocheted cross bookmarks. I can remember occasionally getting crocheted crosses that church members made when I was a child.
There are lots of different types of crocheted crosses. Directions for making one type are at Moms Love of Crochet.
