17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, June 19, 1912: Pulled a tooth for Jimmie. It was the first one to go, and then he got another yanked out before the day was over.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
How did Grandma pull her little brother’s baby tooth? Did she tie a string around it and pull? . . . twist and wiggle the tooth back and forth with her finger? . . . give it a quick tug?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, June 18, 1912:Ma went to Milton today. She bought me an umbrella. Went to Watsontown this afternoon, and some of my money went to.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma must have decided that she needed an umbrella after the rain the previous Sunday prevented her from attending Sunday School.
What did Grandma buy when she went to Watsontown?
_____
Since the diary entry is self-explanatory, I’m going to go off on a tangent.
I’m not sure why, but when I see something in the news I often view it through the frame of the diary.
For example, in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal there was an article which said that the War of 1812 began 200 years ago on June 18. I guess it’s obvious that the War of 1812 occurred 100 years before Grandma’s diary entry–but I’d never thought about it that way before. In other words, the diary was written at the midpoint between the War of 1812 and the present.
I t also made me think about how the Civil War began 151 years ago (51 years before this diary entry)—and that War War I had not yet occurred in 1912 (it started in 1914).
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, June 18, 1912: I seemed to have had sort of a hard time today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Sounds like things still weren’t going well. The previous day Grandma wrote that she didn’t feel well, but that no one took it seriously.
Yesterday, I posted an old advertisement for a patent medicine. A hundred years ago, they were controversial and were just beginning to be regulated by the government.
Here’s a cartoon about patent medicines that appeared in the September, 1910 issue of National Food Magazine.
A SUGGESTION FOR AN “AD” FOR ANY OF THE FOLLOWING BABY KILLERS:
BEFORE TAKING
“That’ll make it stop crying, 50 cents, please.”
—
AFTER TAKING
<<drawing of crying mother>>
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, June 17, 1912: I tried to play the sick cat this afternoon, but no one took it very seriously. In fact I really didn’t feel very extra anyway.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What chore was Grandma trying to get out of? It isn’t fun to not feel well, and not have anyone believe you.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, June 16, 1912: It rained today. Wanted to go to Sunday School this afternoon, but the walking I felt sure would be simply terrible. Besse and Curt were out this evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The weather doesn’t sound good—
Mud would have been an issue since the road between the Muffly farm and McEwensville wasn’t paved a hundred years ago.
Grandma seldom skipped Sunday School—I think this was only the second time since the diary began in January, 1911.
Grandma mentioned several times in the diary that she didn’t want to miss Sunday School because each week she memorized Bible verses—and that if she memorized 700+ verses that she’d get a Bible.
Well, Grandma reached her goal on May 26 and received her Bible two weeks prior to this entry on June 3. Apparently she was less motivated to attend Sunday School now that she had the Bible.
Besse was Grandma’s married sister, and Curt was her husband.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, June 15, 1912: Well this is Saturday. Saturday, that’s the way my brain must be of the dull sort. Did some fancy work this afternoon.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What type of “fancy work” was Grandma doing? . . . . embroidery . . . tatting. . . crocheting . . .?
Was she making something that would decorate her clothes? . . . or was she making it to give as a gift? . . . or to put in her hope chest?
I want to picture her sitting in the living room doing fancy embroidery on pillow cases and sheets in anticipation of finding the right guy and getting married someday—but maybe it was for more immediate needs such as decorating a dress collar.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, June 14, 1912: Such a time as I had a running after Jake this afternoon. He broke out of the field and when I spied him he was walking up the railroad. Carrie was over this evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Hmm—who was Jake? I never really thought about it before, but I bet that the Muffly’s had a bull—and that Jake was the bull’s name.
Bulls are MEAN. They have unpredictable tempers and sometimes charge people.
This adds a whole new dimension to what watching cows involved. When Grandma wrote about watching cows—it probably wasn’t a pastoral pastime, but a potentially dangerous job.
An aside—Most farmers started using artificial insemination to breed their cows in the 1950s and 60s—and they were very, very glad that they no longer needed to have bulls on the farm.
