Got the Christmas Tree

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

Monday, December 23, 1912: I got the Christmas tree this afternoon, nor did it take me long. Pass it along, Ruth has the pink eye, and now tis my turn to laugh. She looks so terrible funny. I know what it’s like, but I can’t keep from thinking what a joke it is on her.

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

Did Grandma go out into the woods on the farm by herself and cut a tree? I always picture tree cutting as a family project—but I guess that one person could do it by herself.

Interesting how people waited until the last-minute to get their tree a hundred years ago. They put candles on trees back then—and there was a real fire risk. So I suppose that they wanted a very fresh tree on Christmas day that might be less likely to catch fire.

Poor Ruth—she was Grandma’s older sister. It’s no fun to be sick during the holidays. Pink eye was going through the family. Grandma had it on December 10 and their brother Jimmie had it on December 15.

Doll Clothes A Hundred Years Ago

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

Sunday, December 22, 1912: Went to Sunday School this morning. Ruth and I went up to hear the Xmas services this evening. Twas tonight moonlit.

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

Sounds like a lovely day—and a walk home in the moonlight sounds like a nice way to end it .

Between Sunday School and the evening service did Grandma manage to find time to finish making last-minute gifts? . . perhaps some quickly made doll clothes for young people on her gift list.

Both then and now, there’s a mad dash at the end to finish making gifts. I found an article in the December, 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal called “Quickly Made Doll Clothes” which featured outfits made from some patterns that the magazine sold.

These quickly and easily made doll clothes should be especially welcome at this busy season, when the dressing of the children’s dolls is generally a last and hurried task.

All the little clothes both for the girl and boy dolls have been cut from one piece or kimono shaping, thus eliminating the difficult making and adjusting of little sleeves, and each garment has few seams and may be cut from a very small piece of material.

1912 Aprons

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

Thursday, December 19, 1912: Ma went to town this afternoon to do her Xmas shopping. Wonder what she got me for a present. Perhaps nothing much.

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

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Grandma’s mother got her some wonderful gifts.

A hundred years ago people often made homemade gifts. Aprons were a really popular handmade gift back then. Did Grandma’s mother purchase fabric to make one?

Picture Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy the post that I did on aprons last year.

Injured Thumb While Butchering Hogs

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

Monday, December 16, 1912: Our dearest Ruth left for Sunbury this morning and my heart is rather sad. We killed some pigs and I took a slice off the end of my thumb. Oh sad the day, for I don’t care anything about having a sore thumb.

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

Butchering hogs is a lot of work. A hundred years ago today, the yard between the house and barn on the Muffly farm was probably filled with scalding troughs and large wooden tripods with hog carcasses hanging from them.

I wonder how bad Grandma’s cut was. A “slice off the end” of her thumb doesn’t sound good. (Click here to read a previous post on how they treated cuts and wounds a hundred years ago.)

Did Grandma miss her sister Ruth or was she being sarcastic? (Personally I might be annoyed if I had a sister who didn’t have to help with the butchering.)

I think that Ruth went to a teachers’ institute. She was a teacher at a one-room school-house near McEwensville. Winter break for the schools began the previous Friday, and I think that teacher institutes were held over the breaks to provide professional development and training for the rural school teachers.

Sunbury is the county seat of Northumberland County and is about twenty miles from McEwensville.

Beliefs About Infectious Diseases a Hundred Years Ago

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

Sunday, December 15, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Jimmie also has the pink eye and says I gave it to him. He was real mad for a time.

Recent photo of the house the Muffly's lived in. — Recent photo of the Muffly’s house.

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

Poor Jimmie—pink eye is no fun.

Of course, Grandma’s seven-year-old brother is right—he probably caught the pink eye from Grandma . She wrote that she had pink eye on December 10—and that it was getting better on December 12.

Did the Muffly’s try to prevent the spread of pink eye?

Here’s what I found in a hundred-year-old book called Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for Women about how to avoid infections (though it focuses on influenza rather than pink eye).

We have already seen that bacilli are not only the cause of acute infections, but also of chronic bronchitis, and that this was especially true of the bacillus of influenza and the pneumococcus of pneumonia.

It is well know that influenza is an infectious disease, which rapidly spreads through the family and the community., but it is not so well-known that the so-called “common colds,” ordinary sore throat, and tonsillitis are also highly contagious. The infection is carried from one person to another by direct contagion; the air is being constantly sprayed with the germs of disease in talking, laughing, sneezing, and coughing. In coughing and sneezing it is not sufficient to hold the hand before the moth—a handkerchief must be used for this purpose.

Old-fashioned Tatted Hankderchief Pictures

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

Saturday, December 14, 1912: Made some handkerchiefs this afternoon. Of course they weren’t very fancy ones, but good enough for me.

DSC06772.crop — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)

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

Was Grandma making the handkerchiefs for herself –she might have needed them since she’s had colds for much of the Fall—or as gifts for someone else?

In the old days people made lovely handkerchiefs. Some had tatted or crocheted borders . . others beautiful embroidery.

(An aside—Does anyone know how to tat anymore? It is so delicate and beautiful.)

Grandma said the handkerchiefs weren’t very fancy. Were they actually plain or did she just think that she wasn’t very talented at making handkerchiefs.

From one yard of handkerchief linen six squares may be cut and trimmed.

Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)

Girl’s Club December Activities

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

Friday, December 13, 1912: Our Literary Society met today. I didn’t take part this time. The kids got their parts off pretty good. Don’t have to go back to school again for two weeks. I’m so glad.

Building that once housed McEwensville School.

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

Wow, they had a long school break for the holidays a hundred years ago.

Grandma really enjoyed being a member of the Literary Society at her school. Across the last few months I’ve struggled to figure out exactly what the Literary Society did. At first I thought it was a book club—but more recent diary entries, including this one, suggest that they put on some sort of program.

I think that maybe I’ve figured it out. I found an article in the December 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal called “The Rural School at Christmas.” It discusses how the rural school is often the center of social activities during the holiday and contained several suggestions.

One suggestion described activities a girl’s club could do. I think that the girl’s club described in the magazine sounds very similar to the Literary Society at McEwensville High School.

A Club for Girls

During the Christmas month this club looks up all of the literature and music bearing on Christmas. Christmas stories are told and Christmas songs and hymns practiced.

Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)