19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, August 9, 1914: Went to Sunday school this afternoon. Our church is fixed up at last. It’s quite a satisfaction now to look around and admire the pretty walls and ceiling. It was pretty warm today. The seats had been varnished. Was afraid I might stick fast, but I didn’t. Came home and found Ruthie a lazying around in her room. Her excuse was, ‘twas too hot to go to church.”
Source: Wikimedia Commons
I bet the pews in Grandma’s church were shinier than these . . . Hmm, now that I’m thinking about it, Grandma said “seat”, not “pews”. Did she mean pews, and was just using imprecise language?
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The remodeling of the McEwensville Baptist Church took a month and a half. At the beginning of the process, on June 22, 1914, Grandma wrote:
Had quite a time at rubbing and washing today, and it wasn’t here at home either. We are going to have the church fixed over, and it was necessary to wash off the walls. One girl upset her bucket of water off a step ladder. Had to laugh. I was up near the ceiling, and my laughing made me dizzy. Came down off that ladder and staid down. Didn’t want a fate like the bucket.
The remodeled church sounds lovely with pretty walls and ceiling—and shiny varnished seats. Yet, I feel a twinge of sadness, because I know that the church will soon begin its final decline since, in 1939, in her History of McEwensville, Agnes Beard wrote:
The Baptist Church, a brick edifice, has fallen into ruins, there being no members in or near the place to keep it in repair.
. . . Hope Mother dear doesn’t see this. Something would happen if she did. I bought a brownie. It is a little over a week e’er we go to Niagara Falls, and well the temptation was too great. I didn’t want Ruthie to lay her eyes on that package. She has such a way of divining things. I left Mr. Package under a cherry tree, where I felt sure it would not been seen. After dark I smuggled it into the house and up to my room.
Since Grandma was so interested in photography and developing film, I’ve done several previous posts that included other advertisements that you might enjoy:
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, August 7, 1914: Florence and I walked to Watsontown this afternoon. She couldn’t stay till train time. Ma wanted me to go to Milton to get her teeth. It was nice and breezy riding down on the car.
Hope Mother dear doesn’t see this. Something would happen if she did. I bought a brownie. It is a little over a week e’er we go to Niagara Falls, and well the temptation was too great. I didn’t want Ruthie to lay her eyes on that package. She has such a way of divining things. I left Mr. Package under a cherry tree, where I felt sure it would not been seen. After dark I smuggled it into the house and up to my room.
1909 Kodak Brownie Camera (Manufactured: 1909-1915)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Wow, Grandma, there’s a lot in this diary entry. You’re getting downright wordy.
Niagara Falls! You’re going to Niagara Falls! Last spring you wrote that you went to Williamsport—which is only 20 miles away—for the first time in your life. And, now you’re going all the way to Niagara Falls! Awesome!. . . Tell us more.
Is the “brownie” a camera? Why would your mother have been angry if she’d known you’d purchased it? You have so much fun taking, and developing, photos. In my humble opinion, you definitely need to new camera to record the trip.
See any cherry trees?
—
Ruth (or Ruthie in this diary entry) was Grandma’s sister. I have no idea who Florence was. This is a new name in the diary.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, August 6, 1914: Ruth and I went to a party up at Seibert’s this evening. A girl friend of Ruth’s came to take in the affair, so we all went together. Had a rather nice time. They played kissing games (have reasons of my own for not saying we), even if I did get some kisses. Arrived home at about half past 1 a.m.
A side street in McEwensville
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma!
WHO is it? . . .Is he cute? . . . I’m not sure whether to be happy for you or alarmed.
I’m trying to be ecstatic , but sometimes I just can’t forget that in reality I’m a middle-aged mother who worries about my kids. . . and that you are my grandmother.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, August 5, 1914: Ditto
Caption: The washing of the greasy, smoked lamp chimneys and the dangerous practice of carrying a lantern into the hay mow are done away with. Source: Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine (October, 1914)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The previous day Grandma wrote that she, “Forgot what I did today.”
Since nothing was happening in Grandma’s life that merited mention in her diary, and since I’m still fascinated with how technology was changing a hundred years ago, I’m going to go off on another tangent.
In 1914 electricity was widely available in larger towns—though it had not yet come to McEwensville. However, some farmers were beginning to install generators and batteries that could be used to produce electricity.
I don’t really understand how the systems worked, but here’s what an article in the October, 1914 issue of Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine said:
The Farm Electricity Plant
For the operation of the little plant, less skill is required than to run the simplest automobile. It contains a gasoline engine of 1 1/2 horsepower, an electric generator or dynamo, a storage battery of 16 small cells, which can be placed on a shelf 8 inches wide by 5 feet long and a simple switchboard. The generating part weights but 160 pounds.
The cost of lamps and wiring will be about $3 per lamp, more or less, depending on the conditions and grade of materials employed. An estimate of materials and wiring may be obtained from a local electrician or contractor. Or the farmer may buy the materials and do the wiring himself at odd times. This is a simple matter with the aid of a good book on wiring.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, August 4, 1914: Forgot what I did today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share some ideas for stenciling and painting furniture that were in the June, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal.
Did Grandma ever paint or stencil a dresser or chair to beautify her bedroom? When I was young I used to enjoy “antiguing” furniture with paint to give it a new look. Maybe Grandma also enjoyed giving old furniture a new look.
The simple pattern on the slats is stenciled in white.
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When painted yellow and stenciled with a leaf motif in green, a chiffonier makes an attractive piece of furniture.
19-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 3, 1914: We had chocolate ice cream and devil’s food cake for supper. The ice cream was the remains of yesterday. The cake also.
Devil’s Food Cake (Hundred-Year-Old Recipe)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I’m going to repost part of a post that I originally posted on February 27, 2012 (1912) because it seems so appropriate for this diary entry:
Comparison of Hundred-year-old and Modern Recipes for Devil’s Food Cake
I recently bought a 1912 cookbook off eBay. My daughter glanced through it and noticed that the devil’s food cake recipe seemed very different from today’s recipes.
So we decided to compare a devil’s food cake made with a modern recipe with one made using a hundred year old recipe.
In the early 1900s angel food cakes and devils food cakes were seen as the polar opposites—one was white and light; the other dark and heavy.
The cake made with the hundred year old recipe was a dense chocolate spice cake. The recipe called for mashed potatoes (mashed potatoes ?!?!), cinnamon, nutmeg and nuts. It reminded us of gingerbread–though ginger was not an ingredient. I’ve never eaten anything exactly like it—but the cake was very good and I’d make it again.
100 Year-Old-Recipe
Calumet Devil’s Food Cake (Chocolate Spice Cake)
2 cups flour
2 level teaspoons Calumet (or any other brand) baking powder
2 level teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup warm mashed potatoes
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13 X 9 X 2 inches. Melt butter and chocolate. Combine with all of the other ingredients except nuts. Beat until well-blended. Stir in nuts.
Pour into pan. Bake approximately 45-50 minutes or until pick comes out clean.
Adapted from the recipe in Calumet Baking Powder Reliable Recipes (1912)
The modern devil’s food cake recipe that my daughter made was from my Betty Crocker Cookbook. The recipe called for red food coloring—but otherwise seemed similar to other modern chocolate cake recipes. The cake was awesome.
Modern Recipe
Devil’s Food Cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 teaspoons soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 ounces melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon red food color
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan, 13x9x2 inches, or two 9-inch or three 8-inch round layer pans. Measure all ingredients into large mixer bowl. Blend 1/2 minute on low-speed, scraping bowl constantly. Beat 3 minutes high-speed, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour into pan(s).
Bake oblong about 40 minutes, layers 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.
(Recipe suggests using chocolate or cream cheese frosting.)
