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

Tuesday, September 9, 1913:  Went to Watsontown this afternoon to get some things.

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

When I go shopping, the items that I want to buy determine where I go.  If I just need a gallon of milk I walk to the local convenience store, but if I need to buy a week’s worth of groceries I drive to the nearest strip mall. And, if I want to buy some new clothes I head to a more distant large mall.

It was the same in Grandma’s day. She often shopped in three towns–McEwensville, Watsontown, and Milton.

McEwensville had a general store and pharmacy—and sometimes Grandma could buy what she needed there. Watsontown was a somewhat larger town and had a small shopping district. And, Milton was a little further away, but had more stores.

Grandma could have easily walked to McEwensville or Watsontown; a trip to Milton would have required to train or buggy ride.

A hundred years ago today Grandma must have needed some things that were relatively common—but not so common that the McEwensville stores would have had them; so she had to visit the medium-sized town.

An aside–Maybe the title of this post isn’t really right, since by most standards McEwensville, Watsontown, and Milton are all small towns–but in Grandma’s world she definitely would have differentiated between them and considered one small, the other medium, and the third large.

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

Sunday, September 7, 1913:  Went to Sunday School this afternoon. We got a most refreshing rain towards evening. Ruthie is away to spend the day and I had the milking to do.

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

Based on the diary, I think that Grandma and her sister Ruth shared the chore of milking the cows. The family probably had 6 or 8 cows—and each girl milked 3 or 4.

If one sister went somewhere, the other would milk all the cows.  Over time the informal trading of the milking chore would balance out—and each sister got some needed breaks.

Grandma visited her cousin Alma for three days in August—and Ruth probably milked all the cows while she was gone.  Now it was payback time.

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

Friday, September 5, 1913: I have such a pretty piece of music. I think I’ll have this one in better condition than my other ones, because I like it and it isn’t very hard.

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

Way to go, Grandma! I’m glad that you’re finally able to play some fun music—and you’re going to be well prepared for your weekly piano lesson

You’ve only been taking lessons since June—and so many diary entries have suggested that you’ve struggled to practice.

It is so much easier to practice pretty music than uninteresting pieces. Maybe you’re getting past those boring “beginner” pieces.

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

Wednesday, September 3, 1913:  An old buzz of a threshing machine is hissing away outside now. I suppose I’ll have a nice time tomorrow.

Threshing day was one of the busiest days of the year on farms a hundred years ago. In the days before combines, threshing machines separated wheat (and other small grains) from the straw.  Huge steam-operated threshing machines went from farm to farm.

The threshing machine probably arrived on the Muffly farm with a hissing sound a hundred years ago today–and the actual threshing  was done the following day.

The previous day Grandma’s father was ill and fainted—I hope that he was feeling better and able to help.  (Maybe he’d overworked trying to prepare for the threshers—which somehow contributed to his fainting.)

I think Grandma was being sarcastic about having a nice time the next day.  It took lots of labor to operate the threshing machines —and the men who came to help expected a big meal. Grandma probably planned to spend the day cooking, serving food, and then washing dishes.

Grandma’s diary entries in previous years about threshing provide more information about what threshing was like:

November 18, 1912:

I’m half way out of something that I worried about before school started, and that was that I was afraid I’d have to miss school when Pa had his threshing done. They started today and well I went to school today, too. So glad I don’t have to miss, that would be too bad for me.

[Note: Of course, Grandma didn’t need to worry about missing school in 1913 like she had in previous years since she’d graduated in the spring.]

September 12, 1911

Had to run around town this morning and accomplished some errands. Have to sleep with Rufus tonight as the threshers are here.

[Note: In the diary Grandma sometimes called her sister Ruth, Rufus.]

September 13, 1911

Was in such terrible trepidation this morning, lest I would have to miss school and help Ma with the work, but Besse came to my relief. So glad I was. I missed those stacks and stacks of dishes for dinner, but have to confront them tonight.

[Note: Besse was Grandma’s oldest sister. She was married and lived in nearby Watsontown.]

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

Saturday, August 30, 1913:  The Lutherans had a Sunday School picnic down at the park today. Of course, I went. Had a pretty good time, but I guess I ate too much from the way I feel now.

Picture Source: Wikipedia

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

The food must have been really good. There is an old Pennsylvania saying that meals should have “seven sweets and seven sours.”

The idea was to balance sweets and sours. In other words, eat some cake—but eat some pickles, too.

The phrase is often associated with the Amish, but traditionally it was often used throughout the state in German American communities.

There probably was a plethora of both sweets and sours at the picnic. I bet that Grandma had a sweet tooth and overdid the sweets. 🙂