Are Fireworks Old-Fashioned?

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

Thursday, July 4, 1912: Such a magic sound it has to some, but to me it is about the same as other days. We got a glorious rain this afternoon. I can’t help but rejoice over the very thought of it. It’s cooler now for one thing.

I bet that people a hundred years ago would never have expected that “ancient” traditions like fireworks would still exist in 2012.

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

Poor Grandma–It sounds like an incredibly boring 4th. Some places were livelier.

About 125 miles northeast of McEwenville, New York City was holding a modern 4th of July celebration.

Here are some excerpts from the July 4, 1912 issue of the New York Times:

CITY TO CELEBRATE ITS SANEST FOURTH

Music, Parading, Speeches, and Electric Light to Banish Firecracker Riot

Over the Old Fort Block House at 5:30 o’clock this morning the new forty-eight-starred flag of this country will be raised and its raising will be the start of this city’s celebration of Independence Day. This celebration will be the 136^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

It will represent weeks of effort put forth by the Mayor’s Committee and by countless societies and organizations, all joined in a determined campaign to free the marking of this day from the ancient rites of fire and powder and its ancient toll of death and wounds.

Instead of the steady popping of firecrackers and deafening crash of the cannon cracker, there will be parading, music, dancing, and speechmaking.

The prediction last evening, as the final touches were put on the innumerable arrangements, pointed to the safest and sanest Fourth in a city where the Nation’s big day has been growing safer and saner every passing years.

For safety Acting Chief Guerin of the Fire Prevention Bureau reported that for the last week he and his men had been on the lookout for fireworks stored away for sale. Confiscation is the rule and some $3,000 worth of explosives have been so put out of harm’s way.

The weather man, after scanning the heavens and weighing the evidence with unusual care last evening announced his gloomy fear that this city and the surrounding country would experience thunderstorms this afternoon or evening.

Quite as much as any other part of the celebration, the elaborate illumination depends on the holding off of the rain. If all goes well many parts of the city will be radiant with fantastic light, for nearly a hundred thousand Japanese lanterns have been strung to the trees in the parks and these were supplied with current last evening to try them out. As the dim trees in each park, loaded with festoons and strung ropes of these lanterns would spring into radiance with the turning of the switch, a shrill chorus of delightful approval would go from hundreds of children. The current is the gift of the New York Edison Company for the celebration and besides this, it has given the lanterns.

City Hall and its square is to be more brilliantly lighted than any, 6,000 electric light bulbs being devoted to this purpose.

Why Do Cows Kick?

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

Wednesday, July 3, 1912: Did the same things today as I usually do on other days. Got so mad at a cow who took a notion to run over the whole creation.

Advertisement in June 30, 1911 Issue of Farm Implement Magazine

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

Sounds like Grandma again was having problems with a cow escaping from the pasture. Grandma also occasionally had to deal with other cow behavior problems. For example, on March 31, 1911 she wrote:

I got kicked today, and it was such a violent one that it caused me to land on my back. It was by a modest cow, who happened to kick me and the bucket at the same time. I guess I was as much surprised as she was.

Here’s an abridged version of what a 1908 book called The Farm Dairy by H.B. Gurler had to say about cows that kick:

Find the Cause of a Cow’s Kicking.—When a cow kicks, the first thing the milker should do is look for the cause. Do not fly into a rage and scold the cow, but remember that the cow must have had cause for the kicking. You may think the cause was not sufficient, especially if she hit you where it hurt, as she probably did for cows have a facility for doing that.

When a cow kicks she is either frightened or hurt, and if she is frightened and kicked you it is strong circumstantial evidence that you have at some time hurt her and she is afraid that you are going to hurt her again, and she feels that her safety depends on her ability to defend herself.

Sometimes cows are hurt. For example, the cause for one cow that kicked was a pond of water in the pasture in which the cow stood fighting flies, getting her teats wet, and causing them to chap, but not so deeply that the milker discovered it until the healing process had commenced. A few applications of linseed oil on the teats remedied the trouble.

There is always a cause for a cow’s kicking and it is not to our credit not to be able to find it.

Milk and Cream: How Rich was the Milk?

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

Tuesday, July 2, 1912: Ruth tried to deceive me this morning about the quantity and richness of Mollie’s milk. I had saved some last evening to see how rich it was, and Rufus dumped nearly all of it out and filled it up with cream. Wasn’t she mean?

cow.1908.A — Photo source: The Farm Dairy (1908) by H. B. Gurler

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

Hmm—I grew up on a dairy farm and I barely understand this diary entry, but I’ll give a whirl at trying to explain it.

Each of the Muffly children apparently had their own cow—and Mollie was Grandma’s cow.

Milk that has not been homogenized separates after sitting for awhile. The cream floats on top of the skim milk.

Cream is worth more than skim milk because it can be used to make butter.

Cows vary in the ratio of cream to milk that they produce. And, cows that produce lots of cream were considered more valuable.

Here’s a quote from a 1908 book about the importance of having cows that produce a lot of cream (butter-fat).

A cow that produces less than 200 lbs. of butter per year should not be kept in the herd, and the 200-lb. cow should only be retained in such a time as is necessary to secure a better one. No one will become rich milking 200-lb. cows.

You can afford to pay $130 for a cow that will make 250 lbs. of butter yearly as to pay $30 for a cow that will only produce butter-fat to make 200 lbs. of butter.

The Farm Dairy by H.B. Gurler

Grandma probably wanted to know if her cow Mollie was a profitable cow. Her sister Ruth (also called Rufus in this entry) apparently decided to tease her—by making it look as if Mollie was an exceptional cow who produced almost all cream.

Finished Picking Strawberries

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

Monday, July 1, 1912:

In the shadow of a shade tree,

There the weary often be,

After they have been well roasted,

In the hot sun of July.

Stopped picking strawberries today. All my earnings, about $4.00 in all, I still have and expect to keep until I spend them.

strawberry plants — Strawberry Plants (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

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

Grandma apparently has—at least occasionally– been picking strawberries for money since June 10. I assume that a neighboring farmer paid her to pick them.

$4.00 would have been worth a lot more a hundred years ago than it is worth today. I wonder how Grandma eventually spent the money.

Poem

On the first day of every month Grandma included a poem in her diary entry.

Oops–Sometimes I Misinterpret a Diary Entry

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

Sunday, June 30, 1912: Oh dear, June is my favorite month and here the last day is almost over. Went to Sunday School this afternoon. I received my Bible today, but haven’t got it yet, as my name was to be written in it, but I suppose I’ll get it next Sunday.

The old McEwensville Baptist Church that Grandma probably attended was located somewhere on the lot that contains this yard and house.

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

I’m amazed how often I’m taken by surprise by diary entries. Today is one of those days.

Before I started this blog I read the entire diary. I remember many of the “big” events in the dairy, but never noticed or don’t remember many of the smaller details.

Now I only work a day or so ahead—and sometimes realize that things weren’t exactly as I had thought.

Today I was surprised that Grandma still did not have her Bible.

Grandma memorized more than 700 Bible verses and the reward was a Bible. I had thought she’d received it on the first Sunday in June because she’d written on Sunday, May 26:

Went to Sunday School this morning. I’ve finished learned verses for my Bible which means I have learned the required number. I expect to get it next Sunday.

I now realize that she did not receive the Bible when anticipated—and she was still waiting for it.

Old Lemonade, Iced Tea, and Currant Punch Recipes

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

Saturday, June 29, 1912: Put the hammock up this morning after having quite a time with Ruthie. She’s my boss absolute. It’s gotten very hot now.

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

Sisters! Was the disagreement about the hammock or something else?

Grandma’s mother bought the hammock the previous day. With the weather turning hot—it sounds like she bought it at the perfect time.

Laying in the hammock with a cool drink sounds like the perfect way to spend a hot summer day.

Here’s a couple recipes for cold drinks from a 1912 cookbook:

Lemonade

Boil two cups of sugar and four cups water until a rich sirup is formed. Add one cup lemon juice. Dilute with ice water.

Iced Tea

Make tea. Serve in glasses with crushed ice, with one tablespoon lemon juice in each glass.

Current Punch

4 cups currant juice

4 cups sugar

12 cups water

6 lemons

6 oranges

2 cups tea

Boil sugar and water five minutes; add tea, juice, lemons and oranges sliced, and a large piece of ice.

Lowney’s Cook Book (1912)

A Hammock!

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

Friday, June 28, 1912: Mother went to Milton this morning. I had been talking hammock to her for the last couple weeks at least, and behold you when she came home if she didn’t have one.

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

Awe–It would feel good to relax in a hammock right now.

After all the work harvesting hay, it’s awesome that Grandma’s mother bought her something fun that she really wanted.

Based on the previous day’s entry, it seems has if hay harvesting was in full swing. A hammock must have seemed like the perfect thing to relax in after a hot day of making hay.

An aside—I’m a little surprised that you could buy hammocks in rural Pennsylvania in 1912. Sometimes I tend to think that stores had fewer products than they actually had a hundred years ago.