Monthly Poem, Sunday School, and Christian Endeavor Union

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.

1914 Kenyon Weatherproofs Raincoat Advertisement

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

Saturday, January 31, 1914: This day presented a swelled appearance. First it rained and then rained some more until at last all these little streamlets around here just had to spread out and get big.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (April, 1914)

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

Brrr. . . it sounds like a cold, wet, miserable rain. Did it rain enough to cause some minor flooding?

I hope that Grandma had a good raincoat. I bet she wished that she had a stylish raincoat—like a Kenyon.

On a Vacation from the Piano

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.

Learning a Speech

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 . . .

April 5, 1913

Working on Graduation Speech

And I have it all written now, but I got it most too long. I know the introduction so I don’t want that to be changed very much.

April 18, 1913

Graduation Day

. . . 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. . . .

April 23, 1913

Crocheted Crosses

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.

There’s also a YouTube video about how to make crocheted crosses.

White Oak Tree Identification During the Winter

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

Tuesday, January 27, 1914: Read and practiced and vice versa this afternoon, and so the hours sped on.

White.oak — Source of Pictures: Trees in Winter

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

Reading and practicing the piano—sounds like a nice way to pass a cold winter day. As Grandma transitioned between activities, did she ever glance out the window and see the haunting beauty of trees swaying in the winter wind?

I found an interesting old book called Trees in Winter about how to identify trees during the winter months. (I can’t identity most trees even during the summer—and was amazed that some people can identify them even without their leaves).

Here’s some of the information that the book had about identifying White Oaks during the winter:

White Oak

Habit—A large tree with average height of 50-75 ft. and a trunk diameter of 1-6 ft. somewhat various in habit, tending in the open to show a broad outline, sometimes 2-3 times as broad as high, with short trunk and lower limbs horizontal or declined, characteristically gnarled and twisted.

Bark—Light gray or nearly white, whence its name; broken by shallow fissures into long, irregular, thick scales which readily flake off. On some trees ridges broken into short oblongs give a rougher appearance to bark. Bark up to 2 inches thick in older trees, inner bark light. The bark is rich in tannin, is of medicinal value and is used in tanning.

Twigs—Of medium thickness, greenish-reddish to gray, smooth sometimes covered with a bloom. Lenticels forming conspicuous, light-colored, minute, rounded, raised dots. Leaves frequently remaining on tree throughout winter.

Buds-Broadly ovate, blunt, about 3 mm. long, reddish-brown, sometimes slightly hairy.

Fruit-Maturing in autumn singly or in pairs. Nut-ovoid to oblong rounded at apex, shiny, light chestnut brown, 1.5-2.5 cm. long, enclosed 1/3-1/4 of its length by deep saucer-shaped cup. Meat sweet, edible, sometimes roasted and used as a substitute for coffee, or when boiled said to be a good substitute for chestnuts.

Distribution-On moist or dry ground and in various soils sometimes forming nearly pure forests. Quebec and Ontario, south to the Gulf of Mexico; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas and Texas.

Wood-Strong, very heavy, hard, tough close-grained, durable, light brown, with thin lighter colored sapwood; the most valuable of the Oaks for timber, used in shipbuilding, for construction and in cooperage, the manufacture of carriages, agricultural implements, baskets, the interior finish of houses, cabinet making, for railroad ties and fences, and as fuel.

Trees in Winter (1916) by Albert Francis Blakeslee and Chester Deacon Jarvis

1914 Hairstyles

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

Monday, January 26, 1914: Nothing to write.

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

Since Grandma didn’t had “nothing to write” a hundred years ago today, I’ll share pictures of hairstyles in the February, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

This is the third time that I’ve posted hairstyles. It’s fun to see how the styles have changed–and are starting to look a bit more modern– in subtle ways since 1911:

1913 Hairstyles

1911 Hairstyles