16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, July 15, 1911: Nothing really worthwhile. Oh sad routine.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Today we’re constantly bombarded with news about politics. I woke up yesterday morning to a radio story about a possible government shutdown, the upcoming recall elections in Wisconsin, candidates gearing up of the 2012 presidential election. . .
And, I wondered what politics were like in Pennsylvania in 1911.
Since not much happened a hundred years ago today, I’ll tell you what I learned. Only men could vote in 1911—women didn’t get suffrage until 1920. The Republicans controlled politics in the state back then. According to P. Jenkins:
Pennsylvania had long lacked a true Democratic opposition in one of the few industrial regions where Republican dominance at the state level was not countered by Democratic machines in the cities. The Democrats elected no U.S. senators between 1875 and 1934 and no state governors between 1890 and 1934, and the party lost ninety-five of ninety-six statewide elections between 1893 and 1931. In consequence, political conflicts were fought by factions within the Republican Party. Though alliances shifted frequently, this never damaged the overwhelming power of the Republican interest.
Grandma's Uncle, F. Miles Derr
I don’t know which party Grandma’s father belonged to, but I do know which party one of her uncles, F. Miles Derr, belonged to. Miles was a brother of her mother (Phoebe Derr Muffly), and lived in Limestone Township in nearby Montour County. There is a short biography of Miles in the Historical and Biographical Annuals of Columbia and Montour Counties Pennsylvania (Vol. II) (pp. 753-4). It says that he was Republican:
He takes an active role in local political affairs, at present serving as tax receiver for his township, and on political questions is allied with the Republican party.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, July 14, 1911: The entries for this month look, as if they won’t require much space. Can’t help it though.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t have much to say a hundred years ago today, I flipped through the July 1911 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. It included sample menus.
The Friday menu is below:
An asterisk meant that the magazine contained the recipe. For the Friday dinner menu, the included recipe was for Beet and Pepper Salad:
Beet and Pepper Salad
Thinly slice four small boiled beets. Remove the seeds from and parboil two green peppers five minutes, then cut in strips. When very cold serve in nests of lettuce with a French dressing made as follows: Mix together four tablespoons olive oil, one tablespoon vinegar, one teaspoon tarragon vinegar, one teaspoon salt, one-fourth teaspoon paprika, one-eighth teaspoon pepper, and if liked one teaspoon finely chopped onion or shallots.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, July 13, 1911: Accompanied Ruthie up to Oakes’s this evening. She was going to a party this evening, but didn’t do because her friends didn’t go.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The Oakes lived half a mile or so from the Muffly’s. Rachel Oakes was a friend of Grandma and her sister Ruth. And, Ruth was dating Jim Oakes.
Recent photo of the farm where Rachel and Jim Oakes lived.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, July 12, 1911: Mother finished my dress today. Now I will have at least one suitable gown for this season. My wardrobe is rather limited, no silks or satins or velvets.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma sounds really pleased that the dress is finally finished. It must have turned out well.
It took Grandma’s mother two and one-half weeks to make the dress. On Saturday, June 24 Grandma had written:
Mother cut my lawn dress out this afternoon. Am going to see how long it takes her to finish it. I give her till next Sat.
Grandma hoped that her mother would finish making the dress in one week, but on Saturday, July 1 she wrote:
. . . Mother hasn’t finished my dress yet. I really need it.
I wasn’t sure what lawn cloth was, so I googled it. Lawn is a light fabric made with a very fine weave. A hundred years ago lawn cloth was generally made using linen; today it is often cotton.
Grandma wearing a dress made out of lawn cloth. I think this photo is her high school graduation photo and that it was taken in 1913, so it probably isn't the dress mentioned in this diary entry.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, July 11, 1911: Sorry, but I must have forgotten.
Red Winged BlackbirdBluebird
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Today’s entry should be subtitled “Lucy Wants a Friend”. Let me explain–
It’s wonderful to have my college-student daughter (and her parakeet named Lucy) home for the summer. Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, at dinner I was pondering about what to write: Should I insert a recipe? . . . write about gardening or farming? . . . or I’d seen directions for making paper birds in a 1911 issue of Good Housekeeping; maybe I could write about that.
My daughter immediately said, “Let’s make birds. Lucy needs a friend.”
So today’s topic was decided—and my daughter and I had some quality time together. I don’t think we’d made any paper crafts in at least 15 years and it brought back wonderful memories of making crafts when she was little.
(It’s truly awesome how preparing and posting Grandma’s diary entries can bring together multiple generations.)
Lucy now has a friend!!
Now here are the abridged directions for making a paper bluebird and a red winged blackbird that was in the April 1911 issue of Good Housekeeping:
Supplies Needed
Colored paper
Pencil
Scissors
Paste or glue
Crayons
Colored pencils
Thin white paper for tracing (optional)
Click here for the patterns for the birds and then print. Cut the patterns out.
(In the old days people didn’t have printers or copying machines so they’d trace the pattern out of the magazine using thin paper. If you’d like to be really authentic you can make the pattern by putting thin paper over the sheet with the outlines; trace; and then cut out the pattern that you created on the thin sheet of paper. Save the original sheet to make additional patterns in the future. )
To Make Red Winged Blackbird
1. Lay the bird body, wing, and stand pattern pieces on a piece of black paper, trace, and cut out. Trace the shoulder feathers on red paper.
2. Paste the red shoulder feathers on the wings, and then fold the wings where they join along the dotted line and cut a short slit where the solid line is on the pattern.
3. Make a circle for the eye with a white crayon. In the center of the white circle put a yellow dot. Use pencil to draw the beak. (Do on both sides of bird.)
6. Bend out the lower part of the stand, then glue the upper part of the stand to the upper part of the stand on the bird. This will give a stand of double thickness and with a bend out to each side will hold the bird up as firmly as two strong legs.
7. Now fit the wings on the back of the bird. Slide the slit in the wings into the slit in the bird and stand bird up.
To Make Bluebird
1. Lay the pattern pieces of the bluebird on a piece of blue paper, trace, and cut out.
2. Using crayons make the breast and throat of the bird a yellowish red. Use a white crayon to make a whitish spot just under the tail. (Color both sides of the bird.)
3. Use a black pencil to draw straight lines on the tail to make it look like feathers. (Do on both sides of the bird.)
4. Draw a round ring for the eye with a red pencil and put a black dot in the middle of the ring. Make the beak black with the soft-lead pencil. (Do on both sides.)
5. Draw straight lines on the wing piece to make it look like feathers.
6. Bend out the lower part of the stand, then glue the upper part of the stand to the upper part of the stand on the bird. This will give a stand of double thickness, and with a bend out to each side will hold the bird up as firmly as two strong legs.
7. Now fit the wings on the back of the bird. Slide the slit in the wings into the slit in the bird and stand bird up.
An aside: The directions in the old magazine called for colored paper, crayons, and colored pencils. I was surprised that these items were widely available a hundred years ago—but they apparently have been around longer than I had thought.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, July 10, 1911: Nothing doing. Cows got in the corn, and I had to get them out at the expense of a lot of running.
Photo of a Pennsylvania dairy farm in the July 1911 issues of Farm Journal
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Cows in a corn field can quickly cause major damage to the crop. I can almost picture Grandma’s father frantically yelling for help—and Grandma running out to chase the cows. And the cows not going where they were supposed to go—but instead running deeper into the corn field destroying even more of the crop. And her father probably yelled even more frantically that they must get the cows out of the corn or there’d be nothing left. And more running . . . until finally the cows were back in the pasture.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, July 9, 1911: Went to Sunday school this morning. Was over to see my friend this evening. Besse and Curt were here when I came home.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Based on previous diary entries this Sunday sounds like a very typical Sunday at the Muffly’s. Grandma went to Sunday School, her married sister and brother-in-law came to visit, and she visited with a friend.
Since Grandma didn’t write much today, I’d like to tell you a little more about how jellies and jams were made a hundred years ago.
Several days ago I had an entry about making currant jelly using both modern and hundred-year-old recipes. My daughter and I filled miscellaneous jelly jars that I found in my cabinets, and then took a photo to illustrate the posting. The jars in the photo didn’t match—and at first I thought that I should have been more careful to use matching jars for both the modern and traditional recipes when I filled them so that I would have ended up with a better photo.
Some of the jars we filled with current jelly.
But then I realized that my photo probably was more typical of what they would have actually done in 1911—the family would have re-used whatever jars they had and there probably would have been several different types and styles.
A hundred years ago, people generally saved “real” canning jars and lids for canning; and instead often just re-used jars and lids that purchased foods had come in for jellies, jams, and preserves.
The description of filling and sealing jelly jars in the 1907 Lowney’s Cook Book is below:
Have jelly glasses standing in hot water; pour jelly into them; let stand until hard and cover first with paper or melted paraffin, and the tin cover, or paste white paper over the glass. Keep all jellies in cool, dry, dark place.
Hmm, I can’t quite picture sealing a jar with paper—though I can remember pouring melted paraffin on top of jelly to seal it when I was younger and think that some people still use that method.
