Hope to Win 2 1/2 Dollar Gold Piece

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

Tuesday, January 28, 1913: Our teacher made such a wonderful proposition today. It was made to our class. The one who writes the best essay on a given subject is to receive a two dollar and a half gold piece. Margaret G. came home with me to stay till tomorrow. We had a dandy time this evening, although I am afraid our lessons suffered some. Rufus made candy. And so the evening went.

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

Grandma—I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you write the best essay and get the gold piece. I think you have a chance since you sound so hopeful.

I wish you’d told us the topic so that I could vicariously “help” you write the essay a hundred years later.

—

I’m not sure who Margaret G. was, but it sounds like the girls had a wonderful time. Rufus refers to Grandma’s sister Ruth.

1913 Broadway Plays

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

Monday, January 27, 1913: We went to town this evening to practice for our play.

broadway.3 — Nearly Married at the Gaiety Theatre on Broadway in New York City

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

Grandma wrote the previous Monday that she was going to be in a her class play. This was the first play practice.

In my imagination I see a member of the cast saying, “If we practice hard, I bet our play will be as good as a Broadway play.”

Here’s what the November, 1913 issue of Dress and Vanity Fair magazine had to say about several Broadway plays that were playing in New York a hundred years ago:

In a Lighter Vein on Broadway

The Marriage Market at the Knickerbocker Theatre

In this picture from The Marriage Market the small but sweet voice of Mr. Donald Brian is being lifted up in a duet with Miss Venita Fitzhugh. Until this moment when he has just taken her hand she had not recognized him once since the first act. She met him as a cowboy then and married him in a fit of pique. Since that time he has been disguised as a common sailor on her father’s yacht, but she did not recognize his face at all, and now that he looks so stunning in evening clothes and a clean shirt she cannot believe that it is really he.

Who’s Who at the Criterion

Mr. Richard Harding Davis’s’ comic mystery play Who’s Who finds Mr. William Collier and his adopted son William Collier, Jr. The youngster has a savings bank in his hand with which he is constantly blackmailing the villagers in his bland and child-like way. Mr. Collier who has been held up by the child is expostulating vigorously, paternally, almost expletively.

Dress and Vanity Fair (November, 1913)

Old Cross-Stitch Examples

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

Sunday, January 26, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Besse was out.

Source of Pictures: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1913)

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

Grandma’s sister Besse was married and lived in nearby Watsontown. Sometimes Besse brought needlework or sewing along when she came to visit. For example, on August 9, 1912 Grandma wrote:

We had sort of s sewing bee here today. Besse was out and brought some of her stuff along.

On this January day, a hundred years ago, perhaps the sisters did cross-stitching while they chatted.

Cross-stitch and crochet work using same rose pattern

Thumb Still Sore

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

Saturday, January 25, 1913: I have a sore thumb although I do not think it is as bad as it was several days ago.

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

Poor Grandma—She sure seemed to get a lot of illnesses and injuries.

It sounds like she hurt her finger again (though I suppose that she possibly was still complaining about her December injury). On December 16, 1912 she wrote:

. . . We killed some pigs and I took a slice off the end of my thumb. Oh sad the day, for I don’t care anything about having a sore thumb . . .

Close Relationship Between School and Community

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

Friday, January 24, 1913: Didn’t have any visitors at our literary meeting this afternoon, and I was rather glad that we didn’t.

Recent photo of old McEwensville School building.

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

Members of the Literary Society at Grandma’s high school presented recitations and dialogues at their meetings. Apparently, guests were always welcome.

Grandma’s went to a tiny one-room high school (The high school was on the second floor of the building; there was a primary school on the first floor).

The school was such an integral part of the social fabric of the community that it merited mention in the diary not when there were visitors at the meeting, but rather when there were none.

The school obviously had many limitations, yet I have a gut feeling there was something special about the small community-based schools a hundred years ago.

According to the June, 1913 issue of The Rural Educator:

We must, at the outset, recognize that the social institutions are the machines through which social energy works. There is abundant social energy in every rural community. The center of intellectual activities of the community should be the rural school.

1913 Welch’s Grape Juice Advertisement

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

Thursday, January 23, 1913: Bout the same as ever.

The

Healthful Beverage

Welch’s is the drink for youth and age. It tastes good, satisfies thirst and is healthful. It contains all the health-giving qualities of the finest Concord grapes. It is a splendid temperance beverage for the home. It adds a touch of cheerful hospitality to all formal and informal affairs.

Welch’s

“The National Drink”

To maintain the high quality of Welch’s we pay from $7 to $9 per ton over the market price, thus securing only the choicest of the luscious Concords grown in the Chautauqua Grape Belt.

Welch Punch

For a dainty, unfermented punch, take the juice of three lemons, juice of one orange, one pint Welch’s Grape Juice, one quart water and one cup of sugar. Add sliced oranges and a pineapple and serve cold. Order a case and have a supply in the house.

If unable to get Welch’s of your dealer we will ship a trial dozen pints, express prepaid east of Omaha, for $3. Sample 4-oz bottle, mailed 10¢. Write for our free booklet of recipes.

The Welch Grape Juice Co.

Westfield, New York

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

Since Grandma didn’t write much, I’ll share old ad I found in the February, 1913 issue of National Food Magazine.

Sister’s 21st Birthday Party

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

Wednesday, January 22, 1913: We had a surprise party tonight. Had quite a good time. It was a surprise for Ruth, and she didn’t know the least of it.

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

It probably was a birthday party for Grandma’s sister Ruth. I bet it was a really big surprise since Ruth turned 21 three days earlier on January 19.

What was a 21^st birthday party like a hundred years ago?

Did Grandma pull Ruth’s ears 21 times on her birthday? People used to pull the birthday person’s ear lobes one time for each year. On January 19, 1911 Grandma wrote:

Pulled Miss Muffly’s ears first thing this morning, whether she liked it or not. . .

And, on January 19, 1912, she wrote:

. . . I pulled Ruthie’s ears. I tell her she is getting to be an old maid but really don’t mean it. . . .