Tag: 100 years ago

“Had a Sorrowful Time Today”

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

Friday, May 10, 1912:I seemed to have had a sorrowful time today. I guess it was because I was getting lonesome and wanted to go someplace. Ruth went up to Turbotville to attend the commencement.

Recent photo of the Turbotville Community Hall. The building once was a high school. There is a large auditorium on the second floor and the commencement probably was held there.

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

Turbotville is another small town about 4 miles northeast of McEwensville.  I wonder why Grandma didn’t go with her sister Ruth to the commencement. Maybe someone gave a ticket to Ruth—but not to her.  It’s not fun to feel excluded.

This was the 4th day of summer vacation; and, boredom and loneliness seem to be really setting in.  I wonder if Grandma got into any disagreements with her mother, father, Ruth, or little brother Jimmie—or if she was just quietly moping and feeling down.

Over the Christmas holidays, she and six-year-old Jimmie managed to get into several fights.  For example, on December 26, 1911 she wrote:

Am beginning to get rather tired of this seemingly long vacation. When you don’t have anything interesting to do and you don’t go many places it is not very hard to get lonesome. Jimmie and I are turning into regular fight cats, so Ma thinks. . .

More Summer Dresses from a Hundred Years Ago

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

Thursday, May 9, 1912: I brought my dress home today. It is an Indian linen trimmed with wide embroidery, edged on both sides. I think it is very nice. Of course, I intend to get a far grander one next spring.

Photo Source: Ladies Home Journal (June, 1911)

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

This dress must have been really special. Grandma mentioned buying it (or maybe buying cloth and a pattern to make it) in nearby Milton on April 27.  On April 30, she went “uptown” to get it made (or maybe altered)—and on May 7 she went back to get it fitted.

Did the linen really come from India? In the days before modern transportation, it seems like it would have been expensive (and unusual) to import cloth from Asia.

(It’s also interesting that Grandma wrote about wanting to make a dress in the previous day’s entry.  She was going to have lots of new clothes very soon. )

Summer Dresses a Hundred Years Ago

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

Wednesday, May 8, 1912:Did some sewing this afternoon. I have so many things to fix over and a dress I want to get made, but it is slow about getting there.

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

A hundred years ago, Ladies Home Journal featured patterns that could be used to make dresses and other clothes. Did Grandma sometimes browse through the magazine and dream of gorgeous outfits that she might make?

Photo Source: Ladies Home Journal (June, 1911)

New Teacher for 1912-13 School Year

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

Tuesday, May 7, 1912: Went uptown to have my dress fitted this afternoon. The future teacher of the M.H.S. was elected last evening. He was up in the high school yesterday at noon. He is rather stubby, inclined to be stout and has yellow hair. Such I took in at a glance. I wonder what he will be like. Ahem.

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

Whew, McEwensville High School sure went through the teachers.  In February, 1912 a teacher resigned and was replaced by another teacher, Forest Dunkle.  In the previous day’s diary entry about the last day of school, Grandma mentioned Mr. Dunkle; but hadn’t indicated that he was quitting.According to The History of the McEwensville Schools by Thomas Kramm:

The high teacher turnover rate, especially at the High School prior to 1916 resulted in a new teacher almost every year. At least one teacher, and perhaps more, would not return to teach the following year because the school board refused to increase the teacher’s salary.

The book also indicated that the new teacher’s name was Bruce Bloom—and that he taught at McEwensville High School for just one year, 1912-1913. Hopefully Grandma will like Mr. Bloom and have a good senior year.

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.

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.

Gathering Arbutus

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

Sunday, April 28, 1912: Went to Sunday School this morning. Jimmie went along. Carrie and I went for arbutus and wound up by taking a walk. Went to church this evening. Sported my new hat.

Trailing Arbutus (Mayflower)

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

Yeah, Grandma had an opportunity to wear her stylish new hat!

Carrie referred to her friend Carrie Stout, and Jimmie was her 6-year-old brother.

Trailing arbutus is a small white flower. A hundred years ago picking trailing arbutus apparently was a popular springtime activity.

I even noticed a short article about arbutus when I was recently looking through microfilms of the local newspaper. The April 8, 1912 issue of the Milton Evening Standard had the following article:

Arbutus must have a relatively long blooming season, since they still were in bloom on the 28th.

In 1911, Grandma also mentioned picking trailing arbutus—that time with her two sisters:

Besse was out this afternoon. We three kids went for arbutus and I got some this time. . .

Diary entry, April 15, 1911