How Old Cake Recipes Differ from Modern Ones

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

Saturday, September 14, 1912: I made a cake this afternoon with mater’s assistance. She did the baking and put him together. It got real nice.

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

If Grandma’s mother put “him” together and baked him, it sounds like she did most of the work. What did Grandma do? Maybe she found the recipe . . .

It’s interesting that Grandma gave the cake a gender—I would have referred to the cake as “it”.

When I try to replicate one-hundred-year-old cake recipes, I find that I need to make a lot of adaptations—as compared to candy recipes which haven’t changed much.

A hundred years ago cakes were made in wood or coal stoves with ovens that had difficult to regulate temperatures. Baking powder was a “new-fangled” product and had not yet standardized across brands. And, recipes had not yet been standardized for 9” X 13” cake pans.

You might enjoy some of previous posts about cakes:

Chocolate Cake Recipes a Hundred Years Ago

Comparison of Hundred-Year-Old and Modern Recipes for Devil’s Food Cake

Angel Food Cake with Black Raspberries

Black Walnut Cake Recipe

Class Colors

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

Friday, September 13, 1912: Found a pocket knife on the way to school this morning. Wonder who lost it?

We chose our class colors this week. Think it was last Wed. They are maroon and gold. They don’t suit me very well. I preferred to have green and white, but didn’t get them.

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

It’s too bad that Grandma wasn’t able to convince her classmates that green and white would be better class colors. . .though two schools that I attended had maroon and gold (or orange) as their school colors so I have somewhat of a personal affinity for the maroon and gold.

Now that I think about it, I don’t think that we had class colors—just school colors. Does anyplace still have class colors?

Important to Memorize Latin Vocabulary–Though Difficult to Dig Into Studies

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

Tuesday, September 10, 1912: Such a time as I have been having a digging at my studies.

Roman temple — Picture of Roman Temple in An Elementary Latin Course (1909)

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

Which subjects was Grandma having difficulty digging into? Latin is the only subject that she’s mentioned since school began in late August.

Maybe she needed to memorize some Latin vocabulary words.

A Latin textbook from the early 20^th century gave teachers the following pedagogical advice:

Have the material in each lesson taken up and learned in the order in which it comes. The vocabularies are so short that the pupil can be required to learn them before attempting to translate the sentences.

In assigning the lesson, pronounce the new words to the class before they have seen them, having each word pronounced in turn by some pupil; give the meaning and call for English cognates if there are any. Then have the pupils read the words and commit them to memory. They will have a better command of words learned in this way than when they are learned merely as they are met in the sentences. Drill the class constantly on vocabularies past and present.

An Elementary Latin Course (1909) by Franklin Hazen Potter

(An aside—I don’t think any textbooks today would direct teachers to “drill” the students. I guess that pedagogical methods have changed over the years.)

Harvest Home Sunday

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

Sunday, September 8, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Had Harvest Home services at church.

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

Harvest Home was one of my favorite Sundays when I was a child. Do any churches still have Harvest Home services?

I loved to gather fruits and vegetables for the beautiful display in the front of the church—and then during the service I enjoyed looking at the interesting squash, pumpkins and other vegetables. And, it always made me feel good that the food would be given to needy families after the service.

A hundred years ago did Grandma also gather produce for Harvest Home, and help create the display?

Proscrastinate First, But Then Get to Work

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

Saturday, September 7, 1912: My Saturday’s work is done for today, but I still have a heap of lessons to digest before Monday makes its appearance again. It usually takes me awhile to get myself in the notion of studying. After which I usually go to work.

Recent picture of the house and yard where Grandma lived when she wrote the diary.

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

I’m surprised how insightful Grandma was when she realized that even though she tended to procrastinate that she would eventually accomplish the task at hand.

When I was a teen, I got mad at myself for dawdling—yet I continued to do it over and over; and never seemed to “learn” to get things started early.

I don’t think that I knew myself well enough when I was young to realize that I will eventually get a task done (and done well) even if I delay starting it. Now I see procrastination as part of the process (and a time for creative thinking).

Page from Latin Textbook Used a Hundred Years Ago

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

Friday, September 6, 1912: We had a test in three of our studies today. Didn’t make a very good mark in Caesar, but because I omitted to look up some rules, so you see whence I got to today, I was at a loss what to write.

page from Latin text book — Source: An Elementary Latin Course (1909). Click on page to enlarge.

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

Latin sounds hard. Apparently the class was reading Caesar–probably Caesar’s Gallic War.

The introduction to a Latin text published in 1909 describes how the students first study grammar to prepare to read Caesar.

The lessons have been made fairly comprehensive, in order to afford an adequate preparation for reading Caesar.

The vocabulary of the seventy-eight lessons includes about six hundred words exclusive of proper names. Caesar uses about ninety-four percent of these words of these words and Cicero ninety-six percent.

An Elementary Latin Course by Franklin Hazen Potter

Hundred-Year-Old Fashions for Stout Women

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

Thursday, September 5, 1912: Ditto.

1912 Dress and Coat for Obese Women — Source: Ladies Home Journal (February, 1912)

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

Hmm—I guess that it was a slow week for Grandma. This is the third day in a row that she hasn’t written much. It seems odd. It’s the second week of the school year—and I’d have guessed that she would have been bubbling about the happenings.

In any case, I’m going to go off on a tangent . . .

Several days ago, a reader commented that in the old days that wealthy people were often overweight—or to use the term that was commonly used a hundred years ago, “stout.”

Her comment reminded me that the February, 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal showed fashions for stout women:

Many distinctive features favorable for the woman who is included to stoutness of form are typified in the graceful, fringed wrap on the first figure in the group above. It is made of dull-finished black satin—for the stout woman will wisely pass by the more lustrous satins, which tend to accentuate plumpness.

A charming house dress for afternoon or for more informal evening occasions is pictured on the second figure in the group above. Here a soft old-rose satin is used for the foundation dress, brought into a subjection more becoming to the stout woman by the overdress of marquisette in the same shade.

There is a pleasing fitness not only in the quiet colors used for the semi-dressy tailored suit, but also in the right placing of the lines of the coat and skirt for a figure inclined to overfullness.