Items in Medicine Cabinets a Hundred Years Ago

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

Thursday, December 12, 1912: My eyes are getting better, but everything looks misty to me now. Expect tomorrow to be a busy day for me.

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

Grandma—I’m glad that you’re finally getting over the pink eye. Stay healthy!!

—

As many ailments as the Muffly’s have had, I hope that they had a well-stock medicine cabinet.

I found a hundred –year-old list of what should be in a family medicine cabinet (or as they called them back then “medicine closet.”) The list was in the appendix of a book called The Care of the Baby.

List of Articles for Medicine Closet

Those liquids marked with an * are for external use or are dangerous. They should be in poison bottles.

Glass graduate marked with fluidrachms and fluid-ounces

Minium glass

Accurate dropper

Hard-rubber syringe

Small druggist’s hand scales for weighing medicines

Camel’s-hair brushes

Small straight dressing forceps

A pair of scissors

Absorbent cotton

Several one-inch and two-inch roller bandages, one to three yards long

Patent lint

Old linen

A spool of rubber adhesive plaster

Court plaster

Paraffin paper or oil silk

*Alcohol

Whiskey

Olive Oil

Ammonia-water

*Turpentine

Glycerin

Distilled fluid extract of hamamelis (witch-hazel) for bruises

*Soap liniment for sprains

*Tincture of iodine

*Solution of boric acid for washing cuts

*Solution permanganate of potash, 4 grains to the dram

Flaxseed meal

Mustard

Magnesia

Vaseline

Castor oil

Zinc ointment

Soda-mint

Baking soda

Sweet spirit of nitre

Aromatic spirits of ammonia

Bromide of potash in 2o-grain powders to be divided according to the age

*Tincture of digitalis

Syrup of ipecacuauha

Tannic acid for use in poisoning

Epsom salts for poisoning

Vinegar for poisoning

Jeaunel’s antidote for poisoning

What the heck are most of these items? . . and how do you use them to treat illnesses and wounds?

Old-fashioned Mistletoe and Candy Kiss Decoration

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

Wednesday, December 11, 1912: Miss Wesner was down to stay overnight, and go home tomorrow morning.

DSC06821.crop — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)

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

Helen (Tweet) Wesner was a friend of Grandma and her sister Ruth. Was it really a good idea for Tweet to visit? The previous day , Grandma wrote in her diary that she had pink eye.

Setting health issues aside—

What did the girls do? Maybe they were hoping for a holiday romance and made a mistletoe and candy kiss decoration to hang in a doorway. It was featured in the December, 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Mistletoe is the classic symbol of Christmas romances—and anyone who stands under the mistletoe is supposed to get kissed.

Here are the directions in the magazine:

Candy kisses for all under the mistletoe bough. Wrap the kisses separately in paraffin and tissue paper, and then tie them in clusters with ribbon.

A hundred years ago candy kisses could refer to any small candy–though .Hershey’s kisses have been around since 1907.

Paraffin and tissue paper is an old term for waxed paper. Based on the picture, it looks like it night have been available in several colors back then.

Pink Eye

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

Tuesday, December 10, 1912: I’ve got the pink eye now. It’s in both eyes. I look a good bit like a fright. Can’t see very well at present. Oh dear, I wonder when I’ll get over my terrible diseases.

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

Good grief! PINK EYE! Grandma was sick so much during Fall, 1912—and I was really hoping she was getting over the cold that she’s complained about on and off ever since November 28. Now this . .

Here’s a remedy for sore eyes in a hundred –year-old book called The Compendium of Everyday Wants:

The following is a soothing lotion to be applied with an eye bath several times a day. One grain borax, one ounce camphor water.

Spanish Needles–A Pesky Plant or a Home Remedy?

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

Monday, December 9, 1912: Get in the Spanish Needles and had to pick them off of my clothes.

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

Spanish Needles are so annoying—

I have often gotten Spanish Needles on my clothes, but when I read this diary entry I couldn’t picture what the plants looked like . I never seem to notice the pesky plant until after tiny barbs are embedded in my cloths.

I googled Spanish Needle and discovered that it is part of the Astor family. There are several different closely related plants that are called Spanish Needle. Some have yellow flowers. . others have white flowers.

Grandma probably was just distracted and bumped against the Spanish Needle plants, but there’s a slim possibility that she was trying to gather Spanish Needle leaves (Are the leaves still on the plants in December?) to make tea and got the needles on her clothes.

For the past week or so, Grandma’s been sick with a bad cold and sore throat—and Spanish Needles are an old-fashioned remedy.

Its leaves are chewed for sore throat or boiled to make a tea that is said to help with upper-respiratory infections.

Our Local Life: What We Need is Here

Christmas Songs and Carols A Hundred Years Ago

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

Sunday, December 8, 1912: Didn’t go to Sunday School this morning, partly because I didn’t think it would be very good for me to go out today.

DSC05015.crop — Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1911)

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

Sounds like Grandma still wasn’t feeling very well. Hope she gets better soon. Since she didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a list of winter and Christmas songs that was in an old Ladies Home Journal magazine.

MUSIC FOR THE SEASONS

Winter

Snow Man

When the Snow is on the Ground

Jack Frost

Tracks in the Snow

Snow Flakes

Coasting

Winter Jewels

Snowballs

Sleighing Song

Little White Feathers

Jacky Frost

Christmas

Old Santa Claus

Once a Little Baby

Once Unto the Shepherds

In Bethlehem Stable

The First Christmas

Christmas Carol

A Christmas Song

Carol, Brother, Carol

Christmas Day in the Morning

Christmas Eve

O! Holy Night

Silent Night

Holy Night; Holy Child

Carol, Children, Carol

Martin Luther Christmas Carol

While Shepherds Watched

While Stars of Christmas Shine

The First Christmas Song

The First Christmas

A Christmas Carol

Santa Claus

Do You Believe in Santa Claus?

A Christmas Party

The Christmas Tree

Ladies Home Journal (December, 1913)

Whew, it’s astonishing how few of the songs I know. I would have guessed that Christmas carols hadn’t changed much across the years. Though—now that I’m looking more carefully at the list— I realize that some of the songs might be the same, just the names have changed.

Old-fashioned Crocheted Bags

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

Saturday, December 7, 1912: Am still ailing. Glad tis Saturday, so I don’t have to miss school.

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

It’s no fun to be sick! I often do handwork or crafts when I don’t feel well. I wonder if Grandma was feeling good enough to make any Christmas presents.

The November, 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal showed some awesome crocheted bags that she might have been able to make.

Visit From Last Year’s Teacher

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

Friday, December 6, 1912: This morning arose feeling quite miserable for I believe I have the sore throat. Had an awful day of it at school, nor did I do much studying. Our last year’s teacher Mr. Northrop visited us this afternoon.

Building that once housed the McEwensville School. It was a 1-8 school when Uncle Carl attended it. (When Grandma was a student, the building housed both elementary and high school grades. — Building that once housed the McEwensville School.

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

Poor Grandma, it’s sad that she felt bad on the day her old teacher visited.

Grandma always really liked Mr. Northrop—though she often gave him a hard time. For example, she once got into trouble for snooping at his desk. She found a drawing of a ring on his desk, and wrote “My Diamond” beneath it.

I think that Mr. Northrop was a very young teacher and that he often socialized with the students. For example, one evening he fell through the ice while skating with students.

Mr. Northrop’s first name was Howard, but Grandma always referred to him in the diary as Jake or Jakie, which I never could figure out. He must seem a little older now to her, and deserving of the title “Mr.”