17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, December 5, 1912: Around the same as Dec. 3.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The December 3 diary entry said, “Nothing much to write.” I guess that it was a slow day around the Muffly house.
Since Grandma didn’t write much I’ll share some holiday decorating ideas from the December 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal .
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, December 4, 1912: Will be glad I think when vacation is here. Have ever too many things to do then.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I can read this diary entry two ways.
There’s so much that needs to be done in December, and sometimes I feel like I’m being pulled in a thousand directions –so it seems like Grandma must have felt the same way. When I first read the diary entry, I thought that Grandma was very busy with school and looking forward to her upcoming Christmas vacation.
But. . . when I read carefully, I don’t think that is exactly what she meant.
It almost sounds like she was bored now, and was looking forward to her vacation when she’d be busier. . . with shopping? . . . with holiday baking? . . with Christmas parties?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, December 2, 1912: Wasn’t feeling very well today. Think cold is improving.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Did people get sick more a hundred years ago than they do now? This was Grandma’s four cold since the beginning of September. And, her mother and brother Jimmie also were sick.
Here’s a summary of the Muffly family ailments during Fall 1912:
. . . I have one cracker jack of a cold. Got the worst part of it yesterday going to the picnic without a coat. Hope it doesn’t last long.. . .
I’ve fully awakened to the startling fact that I’m getting another cold. It’s on its way. . .
. . . Had croup this evening so you see that put my studies back somewhat . . .
Poor little Jimmie got sick last night and had to miss his first day of school.
Guess we aren’t going to have much of a Thanksgiving tomorrow cause Ma is sick and we haven’t got a turkey.
December 2
Wasn’t feeling very well today. Think cold is improving.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, November 30, 1912:
It often seems the best comes last,
And so it must be with December.
As the end of the year recedes into the Past,
We see her last holiday, Remember.
Wanted to go to McEwensville tonight but Ruth won’t, so I didn’t. Made me feel sore for awhile.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The first day of each month, Grandma began the diary entry with a poem. I’m still trying to figure out if she wrote them herself or copied them from somewhere. This month it almost seems like Grandma struggled to find a word to rhyme with December—so I’m leaning towards her writing the poems herself.
Why did Grandma want to do in McEwensville on a Sunday evening? . . to visit friends? . . . to attend an evening church service ? (Though, based on the diary, I don’t think that there generally were evening church services.)
And, (I guess I have more questions than answers) why did Grandma feel like she couldn’t go if her sister Ruth won’t go with her?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, November 29, 1912: Came out a licked dog in the debate. Did feel so mad at first. Felt crosser than the dickens this evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
GRANDMA, WHY DIDN’T YOU WRITE MORE?!?! Your frustration and anger are so clear, and you’ve been preparing for a week, yet you never told us what the debate was about.
Okay, that’s unfair. I know that you were writing for yourself and couldn’t have possibly known that we’d read this a hundred years later. . . And, I know that I can’t talk to a dead person. . . .
But, one thing that I do know is that your future husband, Raymond Swartz, was one of the other students in your small senior class. Did you debate against him?
I’m going to imagine that the debate was about women’s suffrage—and that the debate was the guys against the gals. Did the guys make “obvious” points during that debate that would horrify us today, but that you were unable to rebut to the satisfaction of the teacher and other students?
I sympathize—Sometimes I also can’t adequately explain things that are really important to me in ways that others understand.
Notes to my readers—
1. For more about Raymond and Helana’s marriage, see a previous post about their 40th wedding anniversary.
2. I don’t usually “talk” directly to my Grandmother in these posts, but I had so many questions and it seemed like the best way to write what I was thinking. Does it work when I talk to her? . . .or are my usual more straight-forward descriptions better?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, November 27, 1912: Guess we aren’t going to have much of a Thanksgiving tomorrow cause Ma is sick and we haven’t got a turkey.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Dang it—Thanksgiving was a week later in 1912 than it was in 2012.
From a blog post perspective, it works much better when the dates of holidays are the same for both years—and floating holidays like Easter and Thanksgiving are problematic.
This year Thanksgiving is history—and we’ve moved past Black Friday and Cyber Monday to holiday parties and decorating Christmas trees . But, on the off-chance that you’re willing to read about Thanksgiving at this late date, here is a lovely Thanksgiving poem that was in the November, 1912 issue of Farm Journal.
Our Thanksgiving Day
By Emma A. Lente
The harvests yielded bounteous store,
In spite of all our trembling fears
Lest this, from drought and storms, might be
One of the fruitless, barren years.
.
But kindly sun and rain and dew
Have ministered to all our need
The fertile earth has given full store
Her countless multitudes to feed.
.
No pestilence has stormed our shores,
No wars have racked our hearts with fears;
Strength have been given for minor ills
And smiles have followed transient tears.
.
So, let us render fervent thanks
For sheltering homes, and kindred dear,
And say with heartfelt gratitude:
“This year has been a goodly year.”
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, November 26, 1912: Ma’s so sick. Hope I don’t have to miss school. That would spite me something dreadful.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I wonder what’s wrong with Grandma’s mother. Maybe she caught whatever ailment her little brother Jimmie had the previous week. On November 19 Grandma wrote:
Poor little Jimmie got sick last night and had to miss his first day of school.
It seems like Grandma’s parents were quicker to consider having their children miss school when extra help was needed than parents today. For example, on November 18, 1912 Grandma also was concerned that she might need to miss school:
I’m half way out of something I’m worrying about since before school started and that was that I was afraid I’d have to miss school when Pa had his threshing done. They started today and well I went to school today too. So glad I don’t have to miss, that would be too bad for me.
(A positive note about Grandma’s parents–Even though Grandma periodically worried that her parents would make her miss school for one reason or another, I don’t think that she ever actually missed school because they needed her at home.)
