15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:
Wednesday, February 8, 1911. Had some of our exams today. Came out all right in Latin. Our arithmetic wasn’t so easy though. My fingers feel rather tired. Had banana ice cream for supper. Yum, yum, yum.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Be sure to see yesterday’s post if you missed it. Otherwise, no comment . . .
15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:
Tuesday, February 7, 1911. Some of the boys at school found the teacher’s Latin questions in examination, and we all expect to make a good mark. I do at least, but I might be fooled as some cheats are.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Hmm—Today’s news media makes cheating sound like a new phenomena . . .
15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:
Monday, February 6, 1911. It snowed today. Hope it will stay for a while at least. Was rather cold today. Got too close to the stove pipe at school today and burned my hand. Didn’t feel very good. Put some black on a kid’s face, and then he put some on mine. I tried to prevent him. Got my arm scratched and tore my waist. Got a ride home from school today. (It was in a sleigh.)
I want to ask, “What in the world were you thinking?” Then I remember that it’s a hundred years later, that I can’t talk to the 15-year-old diary author, and that I’m looking at it through my “parent” lens. So I guess if I could talk to the teen-ager in the diary I’d just say, “It’s too bad you burned your hand, but it sure sounds like fun. Hope your mother wasn’t too mad about the waist.”
15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, February 5, 1911: Went to Sunday school this morning. Went to church this evening with Ruth. It was rather quiet today. Everything seemed so quiet.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
There are so many pieces to the jig-saw puzzle that make up our ancestors’ lives. Questions like, “Which church did Grandma attend?” probably aren’t very important in the bigger scheme of things—but I’m curious. I asked my father. I searched for member records in church histories and other supplemental documents. However, the available data were inconclusive, and I still don’t definitively know the answer.
Based on a scan of the diary I can’t find any place where Grandma said which church she attended—though the diary entries indicate that she faithfully attended Sunday school. There were two or three churches in McEwensville one hundred years ago: St. John’s Reformed Church, Messiah Lutheran— and maybe a Baptist Church.
In the diary Grandma mentions the Lutheran and Reformed churches by name when she visits them—but she provides no church name when she attended her regular church. This suggests that she didn’t attend either of those churches–but rather that she went to the Baptist one. However, I’m somewhat uncomfortable with that conclusion since I know that the Baptist church closed early in the 20th century. Agnes Beard wrote in 1939 in her History of McEwensville:
“The Baptist Church, a brick edifice, has fallen into ruins, there being no members in or near the place to keep it in repair.”
Agnes Beard (1939)
Prior to reading Grandma’s diary I never thought about her religious beliefs. After she married Raymond Swartz she attended Messiah Lutheran Church. I don’t remember Grandma ever discussing religion—and was somewhat surprised that she probably was raised in a somewhat more conservative tradition than what she practiced as an adult.
As an older woman Grandma enjoyed visiting with friends in the “old ladies Sunday School class” at Messiah Lutheran. Both Grandma and Helen “Tweet” Wesner were in that class. Tweet never married and lived her entire life in McEwensville. It’s kind of cool how life-long friendships and relationships developed in this small community.
15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:
Saturday, February 4, 1911. Got up late this morning. The time we usually get up on Saturday mornings. Went to Watsontown this afternoon. Bought some valentines. I was rather fortunate. I got a ride both ways from and to home which I was glad of because the roads were so slushy. Ruth did my milking tonight. Twas a wonder.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Did Grandma have to milk the cows every evening? . . . what about in the morning? Did she milk them before walking to school each morning? It seems like needing to milk cows daily was a major commitment, yet she never mentioned it during the entire first month of the diary. Apparently from Grandma’s perspective it was only worth mentioning on the day when she went to town and her sister Ruth had to do her milking for her.
Watsontown is about 2 miles west of the Muffly farm, and is somewhat larger than McEwensville. The MyWatsontown web site has some wonderful old photos—and lots of other history resources—that provide a sense of what Watsontown was like in 1911.
15-year-old Helena wrote a hundred years ago today:
Friday, February 3, 1911. I got out of school early this afternoon. They all went skating except me. Helen Wesner was here and is going to stay all night. I’ll have to retire to another sleeping corner but I don’t care. It is only for one night, so what’s the diff? I may have some peace.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Sounds like Grandma’s sister Ruth invited a friend over for a sleep-over. This is the third time in the diary that Grandma mentions ice skating—but indicates that she didn’t go (see January 17 and 26). And, no diary entries indicated that Grandma went skating. It seems odd that she never goes since the skating area apparently is on the creek right next to the Muffly home. Why? . . Was Grandma a poor skater?. . . Didn’t enjoy the company? . . . Skates didn’t fit and hurt her feet? . . . Didn’t like the cold?. . .
15-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, February 2, 1911: I soon get discouraged, and stop writing in my diary if I don’t soon find something of some interest to write. I made a short errand at noon in behalf of my adored sister. It was to deliver a note to one of her bosom friends with exceedingly good care.
Pennsylvania news exactly 100 years ago today:
February 2, 1911: About a hundred twenty-five miles west of McEwenville, the 26th annual Groundhog Day festivities took place in Punxsutawney.
