Watermelon: Good For Your Health

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

Monday, July 29, 1912:  There is really nothing worth writing for today.

watermelon

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

Since Grandma didn’t have anything worth writing a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a fun tidbit about watermelons that I found in the June 1911 issue of Pure Food Magazine.

Watermelons furnish a delicious and most healthful luxury for the hot season. They keep the system cool, and help to ward off fever. That is why nature has supplied them so bountifully to us during the warm season. The name “watermelon” is most appropriate for it is nearly all water—91.9 percent. Hence, it is also an excellent thirst quencher. Its other nutriments add wonderfully to its healthfulness. . . The water you get in the watermelon ripened on the vine contains no impurities.

I’m always learning new things from doing this blog. Today I learned that when people worried about water quality a hundred years ago, that one alternative to drinking the water was to eat watermelon.

Next time I’m somewhere with questionable water I’ll just have to hope that watermelons are available.

Parents Away–Had Friends Over

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

Sunday, July 28, 1912: Pa and Ma went away to spend the day. Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Had company this afternoon.

Recent picture of the house and yard where Grandma lived when she wrote the diary.

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

Where did Grandma’s parents go? Her father’s sister Mary’s funeral was on July 20. Mary had lived with two other brothers. Maybe Grandma’s parents went to the brothers’ home in Ottawa (Pennsylvania).  Families often gather soon after a funeral to write thank you notes, sort things and reminisce.

Since their parents were gone, I suppose that Grandma and her sister Ruth invited friends over for a fun afternoon.

Didn’t Have a Good Time at the McEwensville Festival

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

Saturday, July 27, 1912:  Ruth and I went to a festival this evening up at McEwensville. I didn’t have a very good time, and Ruth said she didn’t either.

Recent photo of the McEwensville Community Hall and picnic grove. The festival probably was held in this small park.

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

I wonder why neither Grandma nor her sister Ruth had a good time. Weren’t their friends there? . . . Did the cute guys ignore them . . .

When I was a child there was an old-fashioned  carnival at McEwensville each summer.. I imagine it being similar to the festival a hundred years ago. .

There was lots of great food– barbequed chicken, chicken corn soup, cakes, pies. . .

And, a cake walk, penny throws, balloon boards . . .

There’s no longer a festival or carnival in McEwensville, but the sign is still stored in the rafters of the picnic shelter.

And, music, good times with friends . . .

There was a dunk tank. They were always looking for kids willing to be dunked. Sometimes my cousin sat in the dunking chair.  I never was brave enough to do it.

Soon Will Be Fall

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

Friday, July 26, 1912:  Just a month from today and study hours will be resumed. How glad I will be when they arrive. Carrie came over this afternoon and evening.

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

Just as Grandma felt a hundred years ago, I sense that fall will be here soon. The days are getting shorter . . . and, as my father says, “The wind is blowing over the wheat stubble.”
Carrie refers to Grandma’s friend Carrie Stout.

An Embroidery Pattern and A Balloon

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

Thursday, July 25, 1912:  Spent nearly all afternoon in getting an embroidery pattern reversed so as to have the whole design. It’s finished now and stamped on the material.

For several evenings I’ve seen a balloon go up, but tonight I saw only the gas.

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

Help!! I don’t understand this diary entry—and am hoping that some of you can help me make sense of it.

Embroidery Pattern

How do you reverse an embroidery pattern and then stamp it on cloth?  I can remember using an iron to transfer the patterns to cloth when I was child—but I have no idea how Grandma reversed the pattern and then stamped it.

Balloons

Was Grandma referring to a hot air balloon?

Hot air balloons were popular attractions at fairs and festivals in the early 20th century. Steve Shook has a wonderful picture of hot air balloons at a festival in Valparaiso, Indiana that was taken around 1910.

But what did she mean when she said that she only saw the gas?

Blueberry Buckle (Blueberry Coffee Cake) Recipe

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

Wednesday, July 24, 1912: That’s all. Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

This entry makes me think of the Bugs Bunny cartoon line–That’s All Folks.

Maybe I should just call it a day–but I keep thinking that something must have happened a hundred years ago today.

Blueberries are ripe, so maybe Grandma made a Blueberry Buckle. It’s an old-fashioned cake that I’ve only ever seen in Pennsylvania.  A buckle is an archaic word for a one-layer cake.

I make this recipe once or twice each summer. The smaller, tarter blueberries that we get towards the end of blueberry season are perfect for this recipe.

Blueberry Buckle (Blueberry Coffee Cake)

Cake

1/4 cup soft butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

2 cups washed fresh blueberries

Crumb topping

1/4 cup soft butter

1/2 sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, add sugar and beat until light. Add egg and beat well. Gradually dry ingredients, alternating with milk. Beat until smooth.* Gently fold in blueberries. Pour into 8 X 8 X 2 inch pan.

Mix all of the topping ingredients to create a crumb-like mixture. Sprinkle over the batter. Bake about 45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.

*The batter is very thick. May need to stir by hand after dry ingredients have all been added.

Percent of Land Covered by Forests in US, 1912 and 2012

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

Tuesday, July 23, 1912:  Did the ironing this morning. I’ve decided at last to get through with a book I brought home from school last spring. I studied at it some this evening. By studying twenty-five pages a day I’ll be though it by the time school starts.

Source: Commercial Geography (1910)

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

What could the book have been about? It doesn’t sound like light reading, but rather something serious . . .  more like a textbook.

I found a hundred-year- old geography book, and was surprised to discover that even back then people were really worried about the environment and the deforestation of the US.

In fact, millions of acres of the uplands in the United States, now denuded of timber would best serve the uses of man if permanently reforested. Already the proportion of forested area in the United States has fallen almost as low as in Germany (Fig. 9).

Commercial Geography (1910) by Edward Van Dyke Robinson

This made we wonder if more or less of the land in the US is forested today than it was a hundred years ago.

According to the US Forest Service about 33% of the land in the US was covered by trees in both 1912 and 2012.