Last Day of School

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

Monday, May 6, 1912: It is hard to realize that today was the last day. We had our annual banquet, and I guess we all enjoyed it. At least I did. Mr. Dunkle, our teacher, acted the part of toastmaster. We drank water flavored with lemon to each other’s health, but that was soon over and we vacated our places at the table.

I recited my oration without omitting a single word, but I believe that it wasn’t said none too well. Swiftly today drew to a close. Nor can I say that as school is done, I am glad. My heart is filled with sadness. What I will do next year, when school closes I do not know. As I graduate I will not be able to look forward to the next year. For awhile I bid adieu to my school days.

The banquet probably took place at the McEwensville Community Hall and Picnic Shelter. It has been there for more than a hundred years and hasn’t changed much over the years. It has a long history of being used for community events. There is an auditorium with a stage inside.

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

The last day of the school year—with the excitement of the banquet  tinged with the realization that school was over for the summer–sounds like it was bittersweet for Grandma. Probably parents and other family members attended the program.

The “trial” that Grandma worried about in yesterday’s diary entry apparently was her oration. She wrote the speech on April 16, 17 and 18; and finalized and memorized it on April 22 and 23. I suppose that she practiced it in class a few times after those entries  in  preparation for the banquet, but never mentioned it again in the diary until this entry.

I don’t think that it’s very clear from the diary entry, but Grandma had one more year of school to complete before she graduated. She attended an old-fashioned three-year high school, and in 1912 she completed the second year.  She was just worrying about her future after graduation, which won’t occur for another year. She always seemed to need to worry about something . . . sigh. . .  but I guess that’s just human nature.

Sunday School Pedagogy a Hundred Years Ago

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

Sunday, May 5, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Two classes had completed a course they had taken up. They held the commencement before church. It was real interesting. I expect my trial to come off tomorrow.

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

It sounds as if the Baptist Church in McEwensville purchased curriculum that the classes used.

A hundred years ago there was interest in “modernizing” the way instruction was provided in Sunday Schools—though it was controversial.

According to a 1911 book called Practical Pedagogy in the Sunday School:

The function of the Sunday-school is to impart instruction for the purpose of leading to definite results. Since, then, the prime object of the Sunday-school is to impart instruction, pedagogy should have a very important place in the thought of the leaders therein, for, to put it concisely, it is the science and art of teaching.

While this is true, some fears that have been expressed by consecrated Sunday-school teachers must be labeled as groundless. “The introduction of pedagogy into our Sunday-school work will interfere with the position that the Bible now holds.” This is the thought of many. It is, however, entirely erroneous, for the true teaching of the Bible must be in harmony with the principles of pedagogy.

Further, than this, the Bible itself abounds with illustrations of pedagogical principles. It is acknowledged by all thoughtful persons that Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest teacher that ever lived. He was the master of pedagogy, and that He put into operation many of the pedagogical principles which have, in recent years, been advocated by advanced teachers.

Abridged from Practical Pedagogy in the Sunday School

Hundred-Year-Old “Old Dutch” Cleaner Ad

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

Saturday, May 4, 1912: They put me at cleaning the pantry. I’m not fond of house cleaning, and therefore did not like my work. Sewed some this afternoon. I intend to do a lot more often after school is out.

Source: National Food Magazine (May, 1912)

In

House Cleaning Time

When

Old

Dutch

Comes in

Dirt Goes

Out—

Try it on

Something

Hard to

Clean.

Many uses and full

directions on

large sifter can 10¢

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

The pantry probably needed to be cleaned in anticipation of the upcoming canning season. The shelves likely were dusty and filled with disorganized mixture of empty canning jars, pots, and pans.

Exams Are Over!!!

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

Friday, May 3, 1912:  Well examinations are over. I can say that I am glad. But I’m not glad the we only have one more day of school. Besse was out this evening. I sort of miss my lessons tonight.

Recent view of the building that once housed the McEwensville Schools. The high school was on the 2nd floor. Grandma’s 6-year-old brother Jimmie attended the primary school on the first floor.

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

Yeah! I’m glad that Grandma’s exams are finished. She sure worried about them in the diary entries for the last week or so—

April 25—Worried that she’d fail

April 29—Thinking about the exams

May 1—Overcome with gloom, but had a glimmer of hope because had passed in the past

May 2—Doubtful about how well did on algebra exam

And, now –finally– it sounds like everything went okay (thank goodness!) —and that she’s already sad about the impending end of the school year.

Maybe Grandma was sort of like me. Sometimes I think that I worry about things to motivate myself to quit procrastinating and properly prepare for an upcoming event.  It probably was the same with Grandma and her studies.

Besse

Besse was Grandma’s older married sister. This mention of Besse is so matter of fact. I wish that it conveyed a little more about Besse’s emotional state. This is the first time that Besse has been mentioned in the diary since the death of her newborn child in early April.  Hopefully she was doing all right.

Old-fashioned Ginger Snap Recipe

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

Thursday, May 2, 1912: Exams began today. I am rather doubtful about what I made in Algebra.

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

Sounds like the Algebra exam was tough. When my children were young, I used to bake cookies to cheer them up when they got home after a rough day at school. I now receive emails from the university my daughter attends asking if I want to buy a care package that will be delivered to her during finals week.  Did Grandma’s mother have warm, fresh-baked cookies when Grandma arrived home from school to show she cared?

Here’s a recipe for Ginger Snaps that appeared in the April 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Ginger Snaps

½ Cupful of Molasses

½ Cupful of Sugar

½ Cupful of Butter

Set on the fire and boil for five minutes. Cool, then add

1 egg

1 Teaspoonful of Ginger

1 Teaspoonful of Soda

1 Tablespoonful of Vinegar

Flour enough to roll

I used approximately 2 cups of flour. I rolled the dough out until it was thin and then baked in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

The ginger snaps were excellent and perfect with a glass of milk.

An aside—I love how old recipes call for a teaspoonful of this and a cupful of that instead of just using the terms teaspoon and cup. It’s so much more descriptive.

May Springs Forth in Glory, But Overshadowed by Cloud of Gloom

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

Wednesday, May 1, 1912:

April’s done and gone forever,

May springs forth in all her splendor

All the earth is clothed in beauty

When we do our loyal duty.

I am overshadowed by the gloom of a gathering cloud. All winter it has been growing bigger and bigger until now it is ready to burst upon me in all its fury. I must brave the consequences, yet I will retain a bit of hope. I’ve passed before. I hope to do so again. I may win after all.

Recent photo of a beautiful spring day in McEwensville. The old brick building that once housed the school is in the background.

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

Grandma included a poem on the first day of each month. Some of them are a little better than others. I’m still uncertain whether Grandma wrote the poems for the first of each month or if she copied them from some source.

This month I’m leaning towards thinking that she copied them since there is such an emotional disconnect  between the poem and her impending sense of gloom.

Grandma first mentioned the upcoming finals and her worries about whether she would pass on April 25—yet she hasn’t mentioned actually studying in any of the exams.

Old Womens’ Clothing Store Advertisement

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

Tuesday, April 30, 1912:  Took my dress uptown to get made. Wonder when it will be done. Hope it will be satisfactory. I have a sore fore-finger, but can’t account for the cause.

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

Hmm. . . I’m not sure what Grandma meant when she said that she took her dress uptown to get it made.

Three days earlier, she’d written that she and her mother went shopping in Milton and purchased a hat, several other items, and a white dress:

. . . I got a white dress . . .

Diary entry, April 27, 1912

Advertisement in Milton Evening Standard

Sometime a diary entry raises more questions than it answers.

— Had they really purchased cloth and a pattern, instead of a dress?

— Or did they buy a dress, but it needed alternations?

–Where was uptown?  . . . somewhere in McEwensville?  . . . in Watsontown? . . . (Uptown sounds like such a classy word to describe any section of the little towns near Grandma’s home.)

–And a lingering question—Do I worry too much about the details? In the bigger picture of Grandma’s story, does it really matter whether she bought a dress or had someone make it for her?