17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 5, 1912:Didn’t go very much today. Miss Tweet was down, but not to see me.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Tweet was the nickname of Helen Wesner, a friend of Grandma and her sister Ruth.
It sounds like Tweet came to see Ruth, but not Grandma. Do a sense a bit of jealousy?
I did a previous post on Tweet that you might enjoy:
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, August 4, 1912:Went to Sunday School this morning. Carrie and I went over to see Florence Crawford this afternoon. I feel so drowsy now, just like gaping.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Carrie refers to Grandma’s close friend Carrie Stout. She is regularly mentioned throughout the diary. I don’t know anything about Florence Crawford. This is the first time (and maybe the only time) that she is mentioned in the diary.
Sounds like Grandma had a nice time with her friends; and that she had that happy, relaxed, sleepy feeling that I sometimes get after a good day.
Is gaping an archaic slang term for yawning?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, August 3, 1912: Let me see, what did I do today? Not very much, anyway. Twas it easy this afternoon.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma again didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m going to go off on a tangent. It’s kind of amazing, but sometimes I find a hundred year old advice really useful and it sticks in my mind.
Here’s some advice about how much to eat:
Temperate people with good digestion never feel their stomachs, forget that they have stomachs, while big eaters are always hungry or faint, or bloated or troubled with heart burn, derangement of the bowels or some other conditions showing a morbid state of the digestive apparatus.
National Food Magazine ((June, 1912)
I saw this quote a month or so ago—and since then when I’m tempted to overeat, I often think that I’d better stop before I feel my stomach. (And, sometimes I forget the advice and feel my stomach—and only then do I remember that I should have followed the advice in that old magazine.)
Previous posts on eating and obesity:
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, July 31, 1912: Made a trip to Watsontown this afternoon. Had to get some things for tomorrow. Hope it doesn’t rain anyway.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The Muffly farm was located mid-way between McEwensville and Watsontown. Grandma would have had to walk about one and a half miles to get to either town.
McEwensville was (and still is) the smaller of the two towns, but the diary has focused more on McEwensville because it was where Grandma went to school and church.
Today, I’d like to share some recent pictures that provide a sense of what Grandma would have seen on a trip to Watsontown.
(Unfortunately the photos weren’t all taken during the same season. Three are spring photos and one is a summer photo, but hopefully you’ll still be able to get a sense of what it was like to walk to Watsontown.)
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, July 29, 1912: There is really nothing worth writing for today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t have anything worth writing a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a fun tidbit about watermelons that I found in the June 1911 issue of Pure Food Magazine.
Watermelons furnish a delicious and most healthful luxury for the hot season. They keep the system cool, and help to ward off fever. That is why nature has supplied them so bountifully to us during the warm season. The name “watermelon” is most appropriate for it is nearly all water—91.9 percent. Hence, it is also an excellent thirst quencher. Its other nutriments add wonderfully to its healthfulness. . . The water you get in the watermelon ripened on the vine contains no impurities.
I’m always learning new things from doing this blog. Today I learned that when people worried about water quality a hundred years ago, that one alternative to drinking the water was to eat watermelon.
Next time I’m somewhere with questionable water I’ll just have to hope that watermelons are available.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, July 27, 1912: Ruth and I went to a festival this evening up at McEwensville. I didn’t have a very good time, and Ruth said she didn’t either.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I wonder why neither Grandma nor her sister Ruth had a good time. Weren’t their friends there? . . . Did the cute guys ignore them . . .
When I was a child there was an old-fashioned carnival at McEwensville each summer.. I imagine it being similar to the festival a hundred years ago. .
There was lots of great food– barbequed chicken, chicken corn soup, cakes, pies. . .
And, a cake walk, penny throws, balloon boards . . .
And, music, good times with friends . . .
There was a dunk tank. They were always looking for kids willing to be dunked. Sometimes my cousin sat in the dunking chair. I never was brave enough to do it.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, July 26, 1912: Just a month from today and study hours will be resumed. How glad I will be when they arrive. Carrie came over this afternoon and evening.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Just as Grandma felt a hundred years ago, I sense that fall will be here soon. The days are getting shorter . . . and, as my father says, “The wind is blowing over the wheat stubble.”
Carrie refers to Grandma’s friend Carrie Stout.
