1913 Sunbury Teachers’ Meeting

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

Friday, May 2, 1913: Dear old Ruthie went to Sunbury this morning and isn’t coming home until tomorrow night. Rather miss the kid, too. I’m afraid I’ll soon have to begin to watch cows for that time is now at hand.

Row 1: Rachel Oakes (middle), Blanche Bryson (right). Row 2: Ruth Muffly (left) Source: The History of McEwensville Schools by Thomas Kramm (Used with permission)

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

I can’t believe it, but I may know why Grandma’s sister Ruth went to Sunbury. I think it was to attend a teachers’ meeting.

Sometimes I’m amazed how the pieces fit together. There is a photo in The History of the McEwensville Schools 1800-1958 of 12 women who attended a teachers meeting in Sunbury in 1913. One of them is Ruth Muffly—so I’m speculating that the reason she went to Sunbury on this date was to attend that meeting.

Ruth was a teacher at a nearby one-room school-house. The other two women who were identified in the photo were Rachel Oakes and Blanche Bryson. Both are mentioned in the diary. They were friends of Grandma and Ruth—as well as teachers.

Sunbury is about 15 miles from McEwensville, and it is the county seat of Northumberland county. The meeting probably was held to provide information and professional development for the teachers at many small schools scattered across the county.

Ruth wasn’t exactly a kid–she was 21 and three years older than Grandma.

Grandma often got annoyed with Ruth—but almost immediately missed her when she was gone. Was it because she had to do more work—or was it because she missed the companionship?

Maybe Grandma wished that Ruth was at home to help watch the cows. During previous summers Grandma often mentioned needing to watch the cows so that they didn’t escape from the pasture and get into the crops.

Graduation Picture Taken

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

Thursday, April 30, 1913:

Where the trees put on their green,

When the flowers unfold in beauty

When all nature seems to sing,

Then we know that May is on duty.

Mother and I went to Milton this morning. Shouldn’t everybody notice but what she gets tired of carting me along and buying me things.

I had my pictures taken in the same outfit I wore at commencement, so now I will sure know what I looked like when I graduated.

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

Grandma—Thank you for getting the picture taken. Now not only you—but also all of us—are able to see how lovely you looked in your graduation dress.

What did you “need” when you were shopping that your mother found annoying?

Monthly Poem

Another month has passed—and, as usual, Grandma began the month with a poem. This poem particularly resonates with me.

Nature is beginning to sing outside my window, and the flowers are beginning to unfold their beauty.

The Runaway Horse

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

Wednesday, April 30, 1913: I saw a horse running off this morning, and was rather shocked to see it land in a ditch, where it staid until it was yanked out.

The Runaway Coach by Thomas Rowlandson (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

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

Runaway horses were scary and dangerous. I can remember elderly relatives telling stories at family gatherings when I was a child of people who were gravely injured by runaway horses. Fortunately, even though Grandma was shocked, it sounds like all ended well that morning.

Click here to see a fun, old, short, silent movie called The Runaway Horse that is available on YouTube.

An Evening with Friends

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

Tuesday, April 29, 1913: Ruth and I went up to Oakes this evening. Made a trip up to McEwensville this afternoon.

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

Grandma and her sister Ruth probably had a fun evening with friends. The Oakes family lived on a nearby farm and had several children close in age to Grandma and her sister Ruth. Rachel Oakes is often mentioned in the diary. Rachel had a least two brothers—James and Alvin.

To visit the Oakes, Grandma and her sister would have taken the road that went past their home–and gone up the hill in the opposite direction from the way they’d go if heading into McEwensville.

They would have continued down the road past this farm.

Recent view of the farm where the Oakes lived. — And, then they would have turned down a lane to this farm where Rachel Oakes and her siblings lived.

Weather Station Data for April, 1913

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

Monday, April 28, 1913: I hardly knew what to do today. I guess I’ll have to blame it on the rain.

For the complete data sheet for Williamsport click on April 1913.

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

April showers bring May flowers, but Grandma makes the weather sound dreadful. This was the second day in the row that she mentioned rain.

The previous day, she wrote,

Today is a very rainy day.

I decided to check the April, 1913 weather station report for the nearby town of Williamsport. Williamsport is about 20 miles from McEwensville and on the other side of a mountain—so I’m sure that the weather was somewhat different—but it still provides a sense of what it was like.

On both the 27th and 28th there were thunderstorms—with 0.24 inch of rain on the 27th and 0.47 inch of rain on the 28th. It looks like the rainy weather continued into the following day (and got worse)—with 0.66 inches of rain.

The temperature also fell like a rock across the three days—with a high of 80° on the 27th, a high of 67° on the 28th, and 54° on the 29th.

For details about how to find original weather station data on the National Climatic Data Center website, see a previous post:

How to Find the Temperature on Any Date in Any City in US

Parcel Post Began in 1913

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

Sunday, April 27, 1913: Went to Sunday School this morning. Tweet came along home with me. Today was a very rainy day.

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

I know the old saying that April showers bring May flowers, but rainy days can be so dreary. Spending the day with a friend can turn a bleak day into a bright one.

Tweet was the nickname of Helen Wesner. She was a friend of Grandma’s. Anyone called Tweet had to have been a bundle of fun ideas and energy; and I can picture them chatting and making lots of plans for upcoming sunnier days.

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One thing I love about this blog is how readers’ comments help me see things that I totally missed. For example, Grandma wrote three days prior to this entry that, “This morning I got a dress by parcel post.”

When I wrote that post I focused on the dress—the graduation gift. But, Boodeeadda wondered how much it cost to mail a package back them.

I did a little research and I’m still not sure how much it cost to send a package, but I discovered that parcel post was brand new in the US in 1913.

According to the Parcel Post: Delivery of Dreams webpage on the Smithsonian Institution Libraries site:

Parcel post service began on January 1, 1913 and was an instant success. During the first five days of service, 1,594 post offices reported handling over 4 million parcel post packages. The effect on the national economy was electric. Marketing through parcel post gave rise to great mail-order businesses. . . .

Rural Americans were able to purchase foodstuffs, medicines, dry goods and other commodities not readily available to them previously. Even more conveniently, the goods were mailed directly to their homes. In addition, farmers were able to ship eggs and other produce directly to the consumer, saving both time and money.. . .

Private express companies and rural retail merchants fought tenaciously against parcel post but rural residents comprised 54 percent of the country’s population and they were equally vociferous. . . .

The Woolworth Building is a Hundred Years Old

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

Saturday, April 26, 1913: Nothing much doing.

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

Nothing much going on in McEwensville. . .

I know that Grandma will live her entire life within a 5 mile radius of the house she lived in when she wrote this diary.

But did she ever dream of living in a city? . . .the excitement. . . the energy. . . the skyscrapers!

A hundred-years-ago, the Woolworth Building in New York City had its grand opening ceremony. According to history.com:

As part of a lavish opening ceremony on April 24, 1913, President Woodrow Wilson pressed a button in the White House that lit up the interior floors and exterior floodlights (a new innovation at the tine) of the Woolworth Building, so that the entire façade was illuminated.

It was the tallest building in the world (The Eiffel Tower was higher—but it was considered a free standing structure), and would remain the tallest until 1930 when the Empire State Building was completed.

An aside—Whatever happened to Woolworth’s stores? I used to love to shop at the Woolworth’s Store in Williamsport when I was a kid—but that’s another story.