A hundred years ago many families–including the Muffly’s–didn’t have phones, so if people wanted to let someone know that they were coming to visit, they needed to send a post card or letter.
Back then it was considered much more acceptable to just drop in than what it is now. . . and Sunday was considered one of the best times to go “visiting.”
Harvest Home
Harvest home Sunday was an annual event that churches held in the fall to celebrate, and to thank the Lord for, the bountiful harvest.
Often people decorated the church for the service with fruits and vegetables from their farms and gardens. After the service the food would be given to a needy family. Did Grandma and her sister Ruth take any produce to the service?
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, September 10, 1913: Didn’t feel the best the morning. Commenced reading a book.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What book was Grandma reading?
Goodreads lists two hundred books published in 1913 that are still in widely read. They 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.
Fifteen books on the list that I recognized the title or author are listed below:
1. O Pioneers by Willa Cather
2. Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence
3. The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton
4. Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt
5. The Tale of Pigling Bland by Beatrix Potter
6. The Bobbsey Twins’ Mystery at School (Bobbsey Twins #4) by Laure Lee Hope
7. Chance by Joseph Conrad
8. Desert Gold by Zane Grey
9. The Adventure of the Dying Detective by Arthur Conan Doyle
10. The Inland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson
11. The Story of My Boyhood and Youth by John Muir
12. Little Wars by H. G. Wells
13. The Night Born by Jack London
14. The War Correspondence of Leon Trotsky: The Balkan Wars 1912-1913 by Leon Trotsky
15. La Follette’s Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences by Robert M. La Follette
You may also enjoy similar posts that I did for books published in 1911 and 1912:
18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, September 9, 1913:Went to Watsontown this afternoon to get some things.
A recent photo of downtown Watsontown
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.
Grandma probably milked cows in a barn that looked similar to this one. (Photo source: Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine: December 15, 1911) .
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.
A 1913 Song Book
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.
Old postcard advertising a Case threshing machine. [circa 1910]Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
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:
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.]
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:
Monday, September 1, 1913:
Another month to greet us comes.
September with her golden scenes.
Is here once more to tell us that
Tis not for long e’er autumn intervenes.
Again and yet again comes the opening of school. Again chimes the dear old bell in the belfry of the ne’er to be forgotten M.H.S. No more can I respond to its summons. No more can I hasten back to my beloved studies and bury myself in their wisdom. No more can I taste of the sweetness of school days. There are indeed past, but their memory lingers still.
A recent photo of the building that once housed McEwensville High School.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma, I can feel your pain. Last spring you were thrilled when you graduated from McEwensville High School (M.H.S.). It must feel really strange for school to start and no longer be part of it.
When the school bell rings, I bet it really hurts that you didn’t get a teaching job. But, I don’t know that for a fact since you’ve never mentioned it in the diary.
I’ve speculated that you tried, but failed, to get a teaching job at a nearby one room school house since both of your older sisters became teachers after they graduated from high school.
During your school years, you worried so much about your grades. Weren’t they good enough for you to get a teaching position?
Well, I checked the school’s grade book, and discovered that your grades weren’t fantastic, but they were darn good. (See note below about how I found the grade book).
Most of your grades were in the upper 80s and you had some in the low 90s. Arithmetic was your best subject–across the year for Arithmetic you averaged 91 3/7. I love how your teacher calculated the average using a fraction. I don’t understand why you didn’t get a job.
Does life seem to be passing you by? . . .No job. . . .and, no boyfriend. A hundred years ago women often got married in their late teens and early twenties. Some of your friends probably have serious boyfriends and are looking forward to marrying soon, but you don’t have a boyfriend or prospects for an early marriage. . .
Hang in there . . . my crystal ball tells me that you’ll get married when you are 26. 🙂
—–
Sometimes I’m amazed to discover information and artifacts that I’d assumed were gone forever.
The readers of this blog are wonderful . Janet Shuman put me in touch with her mother-in-law Jane Shuman who had the old grade book from McEwensville High School. I almost shook with excitement as I flipped through the pages—and found my grandmother’s grades. Thank you, Janet and Jane!
![Old postcard advertising a Case threshing machine. [circa 1910]](https://ahundredyearsago.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/threshingmachine-postcard.jpg)
