1912 Slipper Advertisement

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

Friday, December 20, 1912: Ruth came home this afternoon. Wonder if she has a fine and dandy present for me.

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

Ruth had been in Sunbury since the 16th. I think that she was attending a teachers’ training institute over winter break. What Christmas present did she buy for Grandma? Maybe Ruth bought Grandma some slippers. They would have been a fine and dandy present.

Source: An advertisement by the Daniel Green Felt Shoe Company in the December, 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal

1912 Aprons

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

Thursday, December 19, 1912: Ma went to town this afternoon to do her Xmas shopping. Wonder what she got me for a present. Perhaps nothing much.

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

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Grandma’s mother got her some wonderful gifts.

A hundred years ago people often made homemade gifts. Aprons were a really popular handmade gift back then. Did Grandma’s mother purchase fabric to make one?

Picture Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy the post that I did on aprons last year.

Old-Fashioned Black Walnut Cookie Recipe

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

Wednesday, December 18, 1912: Am beginning to get ready for Christmas. Picked out some walnut bits.

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

What was Grandma going to make with the walnuts? Maybe she made cookies . Here’s an old recipe for Black Walnut Cookies.

Old-Fashioned Black Walnut Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vinegar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 cup coarsely chopped black walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, brown sugar, and eggs together. Stir in milk and vinegar. Then, stir in baking soda and salt. Add flour and stir until combined. Stir in black walnuts. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour. Drop rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8 – 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Yield: approximately 3 dozen cookies

I love these cookies. They are an old-fashioned soft cookie with the robust, rich taste of black walnuts.

Here are several previous posts about Black Walnuts that you might enjoy:

How to Crack Black Walnuts

Hulling Black Walnuts

Old-Time Black Walnut Cake Recipe

Went Christmas Shopping

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

Tuesday, December 17, 1912: Carrie went with me to Watsontown this afternoon. I did my Christmas shopping. I didn’t take as much money as I thought I would. Jimmie wants to know what I got him. He wants a gun so awful bad. Got him one.

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

Carrie Stout was a friend of Grandma’s and Jimmie was Grandma’s 7-year-old brother. Given the recent very tragic event in Connecticut, it’s hard to know what to write today. My thoughts and prayers go out those affected by the tragedy in Newtown.

Injured Thumb While Butchering Hogs

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

Monday, December 16, 1912: Our dearest Ruth left for Sunbury this morning and my heart is rather sad. 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.

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

Butchering hogs is a lot of work. A hundred years ago today, the yard between the house and barn on the Muffly farm was probably filled with scalding troughs and large wooden tripods with hog carcasses hanging from them.

I wonder how bad Grandma’s cut was. A “slice off the end” of her thumb doesn’t sound good. (Click here to read a previous post on how they treated cuts and wounds a hundred years ago.)

Did Grandma miss her sister Ruth or was she being sarcastic? (Personally I might be annoyed if I had a sister who didn’t have to help with the butchering.)

I think that Ruth went to a teachers’ institute. She was a teacher at a one-room school-house near McEwensville. Winter break for the schools began the previous Friday, and I think that teacher institutes were held over the breaks to provide professional development and training for the rural school teachers.

Sunbury is the county seat of Northumberland County and is about twenty miles from McEwensville.

Beliefs About Infectious Diseases a Hundred Years Ago

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

Sunday, December 15, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Jimmie also has the pink eye and says I gave it to him. He was real mad for a time.

Recent photo of the house the Muffly's lived in. — Recent photo of the Muffly’s house.

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

Poor Jimmie—pink eye is no fun.

Of course, Grandma’s seven-year-old brother is right—he probably caught the pink eye from Grandma . She wrote that she had pink eye on December 10—and that it was getting better on December 12.

Did the Muffly’s try to prevent the spread of pink eye?

Here’s what I found in a hundred-year-old book called Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for Women about how to avoid infections (though it focuses on influenza rather than pink eye).

We have already seen that bacilli are not only the cause of acute infections, but also of chronic bronchitis, and that this was especially true of the bacillus of influenza and the pneumococcus of pneumonia.

It is well know that influenza is an infectious disease, which rapidly spreads through the family and the community., but it is not so well-known that the so-called “common colds,” ordinary sore throat, and tonsillitis are also highly contagious. The infection is carried from one person to another by direct contagion; the air is being constantly sprayed with the germs of disease in talking, laughing, sneezing, and coughing. In coughing and sneezing it is not sufficient to hold the hand before the moth—a handkerchief must be used for this purpose.

Old-fashioned Tatted Hankderchief Pictures

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

Saturday, December 14, 1912: Made some handkerchiefs this afternoon. Of course they weren’t very fancy ones, but good enough for me.

DSC06772.crop — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)

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

Was Grandma making the handkerchiefs for herself –she might have needed them since she’s had colds for much of the Fall—or as gifts for someone else?

In the old days people made lovely handkerchiefs. Some had tatted or crocheted borders . . others beautiful embroidery.

(An aside—Does anyone know how to tat anymore? It is so delicate and beautiful.)

Grandma said the handkerchiefs weren’t very fancy. Were they actually plain or did she just think that she wasn’t very talented at making handkerchiefs.

From one yard of handkerchief linen six squares may be cut and trimmed.

Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)