16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, February 12, 1912: Got my valentines in preparation. They’re all ugly ones. I thought one was most too much to send as it was rather mean looking. But I got it ready, so it has to go.
DON’T sit up nights admiring yourself.
The best that can be said of you
Is that you might pass in a crowd.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
What could the valentine have possibly said that was almost too bad to send? And, who was Grandma sending it to? . . . . .a classmate?. . . her teacher? . . . her sister?
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, February 11, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. A lawyer from Sunbury was there. He was an excellent speaker. Ruth had some unusual news to impart after she arrived. Carrie was over a little while this afternoon. Gave her one of my pictures. Also gave my Sunday School teacher one.
Recent photo of McEwensville
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Sunbury is the county seat of Northumberland County. It is about 20 miles from McEwensville.
The lawyer may have spoken about the leadership.
As I mentioned last week, in 1912 the Country Life Movement was actively working to revitalize rural communities since many youth were leaving for jobs in the cities.
We’ll never know what the lawyer said, but I can tell you what was written in a magazine published in 1912 about the leadership skills needed to revitalize rural communities.
A well-organized personality reflects its efficiency in the organization in which it dominates, and vice versa.
Such are the qualifications of leadership and the organizing capacity which may be described as the ability to build and operate human machinery. It has its roots in tact and skill in dealing with men, in tenacity and in a certain instinct for construction.
One who possesses it sees a new person as social material and is likely to know what can be made of him better than he knows himself.
This type of ability was never in any such demand as it now is, particularly in the rapid rise of the Country Life Movement.
Rural Manhood (January 1912) (A Magazine Published by the YMCA)
Pictures
Carrie Stout was a friend of Grandma’s. Grandma had her photo taken by a professional photographer in January.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, February 10, 1912: I got some ugly valentines today. I had all the milking to do tonight and will have it for tomorrow morning. Our dear Ruthie is spending the time with Tweet.
Pride Goeth Before Fall
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Tweet is the nickname of Helen Wesner. She was a friend of Grandma and her sister Ruth.
A hundred years ago people sometimes gave ugly valentines that were often called vinegar valentines. Who did Grandma plan to give them to?
To see more vinegar valentines see these posts from last year:
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, February 9, 1912: I am disgusted with the marks I made in my examination, but although my marks are low I am not losing faith for I can truthfully say, “I didn’t cheat.” I had not much of a desire to cheat after that awful lecture and what desire I had left I managed to trample down. I intend to improve for next month and make my next teacher happy. Jake is going to stay one week longer.
Recent photo of building that once housed McEwensville School.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
In January Grandma got caught cheating. Even though these events happened a hundred years ago and logically it makes no sense—I feel bad that Grandma wasn’t rewarded with good grades when she studied hard.
Jake was Grandma’s teacher. It sounds like he was quitting and that she was soon going to have a new teacher.
Grandma indicated that she was going to continue studying hard to impress her new teacher. Hmm . . . I can’t help wondering if she might have failed to trample all temptation at some point and “tested” her new teacher to see if he let her get away with cheating.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, February 8, 1912: I didn’t study much this evening. We have two more examinations tomorrow. Will be glad when they are over.
I can picture Grandma sitting in this house a hundred years ago today as she worried about her upcoming exams.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma’s diary entries that I’ve posted over the past two weeks indicated that she was working really hard on algebra. In January her teacher caught her cheating—and she’s really been trying to turn a new leaf. And, the entry I posted yesterday indicated that Grandma missed some questions on the history exam because she’d studied the wrong things.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all went well with the remaining exams.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, February 7, 1912: I certainly was a blundering dummy in my examinations today. I happened to get in General History four questions that I hadn’t looked up before. It sometimes seems that you study the very things you are least liable to get.
Recent photo of the building that once housed the McEwenvsille School. I can almost picture an upset teen--who was mad at herself for missing a couple questions--- slowly descending the stairs from her second floor classroom and heading out into the cold to begin the long walk home.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
How frustrating to have studied the wrong things!
Did the teacher ask for arcane facts about minor Civil War battles or generals?? . . . or the disputed election of 1876 between Hayes and Tilden? ?. . .or the Panic of 1837?? . . . .or . . .??
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, February 6, 1912: Am trying to get ready for monthly exams. They come tomorrow and the day after. I have sad hopes and misgivings for one study especially.
Source: Durrell’s School Algebra (1912)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I’ve recently posted many of Grandma’s diary recent entries which indicated that she was working very hard on her algebra.
And, I’ve provided a lot of background information about algebra a hundred years ago. When I got ready to write this post, I wondered what else I might write about algebra.
To get inspiration, I flipped through a 1912 algebra textbook —and I happened to notice that one of the problems in the book was about the average height of males and females.—and it included a data table with heights for selected ages between 3 and 21.
This reminded me that I’ve heard that on average people are taller now than they were a hundred years ago—and the next thing I knew I was headed off on a tangent.
Average Height by Age and Gender, 1912 and 2012
Click on graph to enlarge.Click on graph to enlarge.
I found recent Centers for Disease Control data on average heights in the US. Since 2012 data are not yet available, I assumed that it is the same as it was in recent years. I also assumed that the data in the algebra book was correct for 1912.
On average, three-year-old children are much taller now than they were 100 years ago. Three-year-old boys are almost 4 inches taller; girls about 3 and 1/2 inches.
By age, 21, males now are, on average, more than 1 1/2 inches taller than they were a hundred years ago. In 1912 the average 21-year-old male was 68.25 inches (5 feet 8.25 inches) tall. Now the average male in the US is 69.9 inches (5 feet 9.9 inches) tall.
Females are about 1/2 inch taller now than they were a hundred years ago. In 1912 the average 21-year-old female was 63 .75 inches (5 feet, 3.75 inches) tall. Now the average 21-year-old female in the US is 64.3 inches (5 feet 4.3 inches) tall.
DON’T sit up nights admiring yourself.
