Sanitation and the Prevention of Epidemics

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

Sunday, October 24, 1914: << no entry>>

Public Health Expert, Dr. Manton Carrick (Source: Ladies Home Journal, September, 1914) — Public Health Expert, Dr. Manton Carrick (Source: *Ladies Home Journal*, September, 1914)

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

Sometimes I’m amazed how a hundred-year-old article can seem uncannily similar to current news stories. Since Grandma didn’t write anything a hundred years ago today, I’m going to go off on a tangent.

Texas had a meningitis epidemic in 1912—and the state was trying to figure out how to prevent future epidemics. Here’s some quotes from an article in the September, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal:

The Man Who is Cleaning Up Texas

Down in Dallas, Texas lives Doctor Manton M. Carrick, a man who studies medicine to learn to live. All about him in that great open country of the Southwest people were dying of tuberculosis, meningitis, and other equally preventable diseases.

Two years ago Texas was panic-stricken at the spread of a meningitis epidemic that for some time baffled the most frantic efforts of all the medical authorities. Dying out as it had begun, without any apparent cause or reason, the epidemic left the people aghast at the destruction wrought and anxious for a remedy for the future. “How shall we prevent the recurrence of this dread disease?” was the universal question.

Into this dubious crisis there came the suggestion that a cleaner Texas would mean a healthier Texas.

To the supervision of this war for sanitation was appointed Dr. Carrick. Dr. Carrick’s method of procedure was always simple and straightforward.

Arriving at a town, and depositing his baggage at the hotel, he wasted no time in preliminaries, but went straight out to his work. Parks, streets and alleys; water-supply and drainage systems; garbage disposal; general appearance of homes, condition of vacant lots; ventilation, sanitation and evidences of care taken of public buildings; toilet and lighting facilities in schools, prevalence of flies, mosquitoes and vermin; methods of storekeepers and butchers—none of these escaped his searching eye.

With his pad and pencil he tabulated the relative condition of every town that he visited, and when he could escape the importunities of the townspeople for a lecture on public health, was off to the next city. In every town he judged the points of the town—to use his own words—“as the points of a hog, a steer or a chicken would be judged.”

At first the visits of the Doctor were looked upon with some distrust and dismay by the town authorities. But as news of the campaign spread and the citizens of the towns learned that Doctor Carrick’s errand was on of helpfulness, the dormant spirit of civic pride became, thoroughly aroused and the towns set to work with a will.

Dr. Carrick and Texas have indeed “made good health contagious.”

Photos of Jim Muffly as an Adult

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

Saturday, October 24, 1914: << no entry>>

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

Yesterday, I posted a photo of Grandma’s younger brother, Jim Muffly. I thought that you might enjoy several additional photos of him across his lifetime.

Jim went to college and became a veterinarian.

Jim married twice. His first wife, Miriam died many years ago. He later married his second wife, Ruth.

His veterinary practice was in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, which was about 10 miles from the farm where Grandma grew up. Much of his work involved treating cows and other farm animals. As described in a previous post, Jim invented a magnetic retriever that was used to remove nails and other metal from the stomachs of cows that ingested them.

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P.S. It’s again Friday, and I have another Friday Update on my author website, Sheryl Lazarus.com. This week I’m working on designing my forthcoming blog about my great aunt who joined the Women’s Army Corps (WACS)–and I could use your help. I came up with several possible design options, but can’t decide which I like the best. If you have a couple minutes, it would be wonderful if you could take a look at them, and vote on your favorite.

Farm Dogs

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

Friday, October 23, 1914: << no entry>>

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

Grandma—

What happened today? There MUST have been something worth writing about.

For example, I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned your family’s dog in the diary. Yet you obviously had one—and, based on the picture of your brother Jimmie with a dog, he looks like he was a fine one.

Did he ever get into trouble? Did you ever play with him? Did he herd cows? Was he allowed in the house? What did he eat?

. . . And I guess I have a very basic question: Was the dog a “he” or a “she.”

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I’m not sure what type of dog the Muffly’s had, but here’s a short piece about how collies make wonderful farm dogs that appeared in the October, 1914 issue of Farm Journal:

Collies

We shall favor no particular breed of dogs, but we present here a portrait of a collie.

Collies are the ideal dogs for the farm. They are gentle and affectionate, make fine pets for the children and are possessed of a rare amount of intelligence.

A collie can be trained so that if he is told to watch something he will do it for hours at a time and if told to “get the cows” will do so. They are better cattle drivers than humans. While a cow may have at times very determined ideas about what she is going to do and what not, a collie can be just as persistently determined that she agree to his way of thinking.

But a badly trained collie, or one not trained at all, may prove to be a great nuisance to have about.

Need a Woman Over Ffity Feel Old?

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

Wednesday, October 22, 1914: << no entry>>

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

Another silent day. . . But I came across an editorial about women over fifty that resonated with me (probably because I’m a woman over fifty), and I thought you might also enjoy it. Here are some excerpts:

Need a Woman Over Fifty Feel Old?

An Editorial by Jane Addams

One of the most remarkable changes in the lives of women in this country has been the postponement of old age.

Chiefly because they had nothing else to do, our grandmothers, after their children had been reared and safely launched into homes of their own, expected to give their remaining years to a general oversight of the households of their sons and daughters. A vigorous woman, accustomed to the cares of a large household in which her word was law, when deprived of an absorbing occupation could not all at once reduce herself to a negligible quantity, and the traditional “mother-in-law” was quite as much the victim of circumstances as were the cherished family upon whom her unused energies were expended.

Happily there is another type of woman. The Woman’s Club movement has been a great factor in developing the powers of women who are over fifty years old. Many of them learned to write papers, to address audiences, to preside over meetings, to organize committees for the first time after they had passed that age. The women’s clubs also gave to thousands of women their first sense of responsibility in regard to public education and civic reform.

It was largely through the efforts of these club women that kindergarten, manual training, and domestic science were introduced in the public-school system of America.

These same elderly women who, in their youth, had been sheltered from any knowledge of crime and the ways of criminals, and who would have considered it most unladylike even to refer to a disreputable woman, were often responsible for securing matrons in the police stations, teachers in the jails, the establishment of juvenile courts and the abolition of vice districts.

One woman of sixty whom I know is most widely useful in many church activities, not only in the local circles of her denomination but also as the president of a State organization.

A woman over fifty years old is the executive head of a national organization which has for years urged and secured better conditions for working women and children, both through legislation and voluntary efforts. She has moved from one difficult piece of social organization to another until probably no one else in the Unites States is more conversant with the conditions of working women and children, and the laws which have been enacted on their behalf.

That weariness and dullness, which inhere in both domestic and social affairs when they are carried on by men alone, will no longer be a necessary attribute of public life when such gracious and gray-haired women become a part of it, and when new social movements, in which men as well as women are concerned, naturally utilize woman’s experience and ability.

Ladies Home Journal (October, 1914)

Hundred-Year-Old Shrunken Apple Head Witch Craft

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

Wednesday, October 21, 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 share how I made a shrunken apple-head witch.

The October, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal had an article with suggestions for Halloween parties. It included the following picture.

Unfortunately the magazine didn’t provide directions for making the apple head witch, and instead said that if you wanted directions for making the “novelties” shown that you should send a stamped self-addressed envelope to the Entertainment Editor—so I was on my own when it came to interpreting the picture.

Here’s how I made the apple head witch:

First I made the shrunken apple head face. To make it I followed the directions in a wonderful YouTube video on how to carve apple heads. It also showed how to dry them in the oven.

I used a popsicle stick and nail that I taped together to create the skeleton. I stuck the sharp end of the nail into the base of the dried apple, and the popsicle stick into a potato.

I then made the outfit using felt and staples. I didn’t like the way it looked when the potato based stuck out beneath the clothes—so I made the dress longer than in the old picture.

I used a part of a cotton ball to make the witch’s hair, and made the hat out of black construction paper.

The hat didn’t want to stay in place when I put it on the witch, so I broke a tooth pick in half and inserted it into the top of the head. I then placed the hat over the tooth pick.

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Last year I made the carrot bogeyman that is in the old Ladies Home Journal picture. Click on the link to see that post.

October Diary Entries, 1911 – 1913

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

Wednesday, October 20, 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 it might be fun to take a look back at what she wrote in previous years on three dates in October. In 1911 and 1912 she was a high school student. She was at home working on the farm in 1913.

1911

Wednesday, October 18, 1911: Grandma and Aunt Alice were here today, but I didn’t get to see them because they had gone when I got home from school. We had a review in Latin today. An easy examination it was.

<<< I’m still amazed that Grandma studied Latin in school–and that she sometimes found it easy! >>>

Thursday, October 19, 1911: That’s all.

<<< Even back in the days when Grandma was a student, some days were boring. >>>

Friday, October 20, 1911: Got out of school early this afternoon. I gathered some walnuts after I got home. Mollie gave me a kick in the back while milking another cow this evening. I’ve named Ruth’s twin calves, one Brutus and the other Caesar, but I can’t tell which is which.

<<<Ouch! A kick in the back had to hurt. . . I can see that what Grandma was learning in Latin was carrying over to her home life.>>>

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1912

Friday, October 18, 1912: These days are beginning to be so much agreeable.

<<< Why were the days more agreeable? >>>

Saturday, October 19, 1912: Had to pick taters this afternoon. Thought perhaps I’d get out of it because it rained last night, but didn’t get out of it any way.

<<< In 1914, the potato harvest was a little earlier–Grandma mentioned gathering potatoes on October 2.. Was the weather different in 1914? >>>

Sunday, October 20, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Mrs. Besse was here when I came home, but didn’t seem to make a very long stay of it.

<<< Besse was Grandma’s married sister. She lived in the nearby town of Wastsontown. In the early years of the diary she and her husband Curt often visited on Sundays. I wonder why Besse didn’t visit as often in 1914 as she once did. >>>

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1913

Saturday, October 18, 1913: At last my job is finished. I call it about 600 bushels more or less. This will add some to my spending money.

<<< Grandma was husking corn. Maybe, in 1914, she’s again busy husking corn (and making money) and too tired to write . . >>>

Sunday, October 19, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Then it commenced to rain, but got home alright after all.

<<< Sounds similar to many Sunday posts scattered throughout the diary.>>>

Monday, October 20 – Friday, October 24, 1913: It’s been so rainy and dreary this week that I begin to feel awful grouchy. I certainly am under the weather these days. Any way October never was a favorite month of mine. I don’t have much to write about for her.

<<< Interesting. . . I’d forgotten that Grandma also lumped a number of days together in the diary in 1913. October sounds like it was a rough month in 1913. I hope it’s going better in 1914. >>>

Should There be Streets and Avenues in the Suburbs?

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

Monday, October 19, 1914: << no entry>>

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

Sigh. . . Grandma didn’t again write anything a hundred years ago today; but I came across a fun opinion piece in the August, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal that I thought you might enjoy. Apparently suburbs were a relatively new concept back then, and some of the basics were still being figured out—like how to name the roads.

“Avenues” in the Suburbs

Can anyone give a good reason why we persist in creating “streets” and “avenues” in our new suburbs when what we are really creating are “Ways,” “Roads.” and “Lanes,” and should so name them.

We say when we move out to the suburbs that we do so because we want “to get out of the city,” and then we deliberately drag the nomenclature of the city with us. A “street” is essentially a word that we associate with a city thoroughfare: It is, in fact, according to a dictionary definition, “a public highway with buildings on one or both sides, in a city.”

An “avenue” is, according to dictionary authority, “a wide or principal street: a broad thoroughfare.” Now try to imagine any of the so-called “avenues” in our suburbs as “side or principal streets,” or “broad thoroughfares.” Perhaps you live on such an avenue: a “Maple Avenue,” say, a city block or two long and twenty feet wide! Would it not more truly reflect its real character and its surroundings had it been called “Mapleway,” or “Maple Road”? And, above all, should we not be using our language a little more correctly?

One progressive little community is taking hold of this erroneous nomenclature and has changed “Home Avenue” to “Homeway”: a one-block “Maple Avenue” has become what it is: “Mapleway,” bordered with maple trees, and “Chestnut Avenue” has become “Chestnut Lane.”

Why not be right instead of wrong in the use of the language, particularly when it is just as easy to be right?

Whew, the author got really carried away with the quotation marks. I got tired of typing them every time an “avenue”, “street,” or other “road” was mentioned.