Days Are Growing Murky

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

Sunday, November 1, 1914:

Chill winders are howling at us now,

And days are growing murky.

The weeks sweep on onto the doom,

Of the saddened sorrowful turkey.

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

Grandma-

Is something wrong? The poem this month seems gloomier than most. You’ve never looked forward to the coming of winter, but other years you also could see that there were also a few upsides to November.

—

Here are the November poems from previous years:

1913

November now is here again

Upon her scenes we’ll linger

Thanksgiving comes e’er she has gone

We count the days upon our fingers.

1912

November brings us many things

And among them is Thanksgiving

The first of the snow

The winds that blow

And all that makes life worthwhile.

1911

November, hastening before the fool steps of winter,

Brings back the stark realities of life.

It is not all the cup of brimming pleasure.

That crowns the triumph of a common strife.

Monthly Poems

Grandma began every month with a poem. For more details see this post:

Monthly Poem in Diary

Bought Some Carbolic Acid

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

Tuesday, August 11, 1914: Had to trot up to McEwensville to get some carbolic acid for Pa. The storekeeper said I should be careful of it; Well I didn’t swallow any if that’s what was meant. It must be fierce stuff. I could smell it through the bottle.

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

What happened? Why did Grandma’s father need carbolic acid?

Carbolic acid (also known as phenol) was an antiseptic that was used to clean wounds. It was also used as a disinfectant.

It is a poison, but in small amounts it is sometimes used as an ingredient in some oral analgesics. For example, in more recent years carbolic acid has been used as an ingredient in Chloraseptic spray and Carmex.

There’s a Guy!

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

Thursday, August 6, 1914: Ruth and I went to a party up at Seibert’s this evening. A girl friend of Ruth’s came to take in the affair, so we all went together. Had a rather nice time. They played kissing games (have reasons of my own for not saying we), even if I did get some kisses. Arrived home at about half past 1 a.m.

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

Grandma!

WHO is it? . . .Is he cute? . . . I’m not sure whether to be happy for you or alarmed.

I’m trying to be ecstatic , but sometimes I just can’t forget that in reality I’m a middle-aged mother who worries about my kids. . . and that you are my grandmother.

Fishing on Hot Summary Days

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

Saturday, July 25, 1914: Nothing doing.

DSC08663 crop2 — Source: Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine (May 15, 1914)

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

Grandma-

You must have done something. Do you and your 9-year-old brother Jimmie ever go fishing on hot summer days in the the nearby Warrior Run Creek ?

White Mountain Ice Cream Freezer Advertisement

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

Saturday, July 18, 1914: Nothing much doing. Went to an ice cream sale this evening. Didn’t get any there, but got some at another place.

Source: National Foods Magazine (July, 1910_

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

mmm. . . Eating ice cream with friends sounds like a wonderful way to spend a Saturday evening.

Grandma did have the ice cream with friends didn’t she? The diary entry doesn’t exactly say that, but I think that’s what she means. In my imagination a group of friends made homemade ice . . . laughing and chatting while they took turns turning the crank.

The Future Will be Better

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

Sunday, May 24 – Thursday, May 28, 1914: Nothing much doing.

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

Things will get better for Grandma and her sister Besse. This photo was taken in 1924—and it is a picture of Besse’s husband Curt. The older boy is his son, Curt, Jr. The other two children are two of Grandma’s children. The baby is my father Harold, and the little girl is his sister Marjorie.

Somehow “nothing much doing” seems like odd words for Grandma to write in her diary to summarize the days following the death of her infant niece—but maybe that’s the best she could do. It had to be difficult.

—

Besse and Curt Hester had one child who lived beyond infancy. Curt, Jr. was born in 1915, and had a nice, long life. He died in 1999 at the age of 83.

When I was child, Curt Jr. lived in the house that Grandma lived in when she was writing this diary. In other words, he lived in the lovely house pictured in the header of this blog.

Hundred-year-old Bucket Bags

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

Saturday, May 9, 1914: Well for the most part it rained today, which kept me indoors a good bit.

1914-03-31 a — Source: *Ladies Home Journal* (March, 1914)

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

Did Grandma do any sewing on rainy days? Maybe she made a bucket bag.

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal had an article titled, “The Bucket is Back.” The first sentence said:

If ever there was a moment for the bucket bag, it is now.

Wall Street Journal (May 8, 2014)

What goes around comes around. The bucket bag was equally popular a hundred years ago. The four bucket bags in this post were all featured in the March, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal.