A Friend’s Death

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

Thursday, April 4, 1912:I heard today of the death of a girlfriend. She died last evening I have not seen her for a long, long time. She was a member of my Sunday School class.

Recent photo of nearby McEwensville. Even though it probably was a beautiful spring day a hundred year ago today, I bet that it felt like a gloomy day to Grandma.

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

I wonder what happened. It sounds as if the girl had been ill for awhile since Grandma hadn’t seen her in a long time.

My gut feeling is that the girl had juvenile diabetes. Insulin was not available until the 1920’s, and it was relatively common for youth to die of diabetes in the early 1900s. But it might have been an infection . . . or pneumonia . . . or tuberculosis . . . or . . .

I wish Grandma had included a name–though the girl probably wasn’t previously mentioned in the diary.

Old-Fashioned Insomnia Treatments and Cures

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

Wednesday, April 3, 1912: I haven’t much to write about. I have all my lessons out for tonight that I am going to study, so adieu till tomorrow.

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

Ah, Grandma sounds relaxed and ready for some sweet, dreamless sleep. Here’s what a hundred year old book has to say about sleep:

A sound sleep is dreamless. Dreams require a certain expenditure of nerve force and mental energy, so that dreamless sleep is the most restful. Disagreeable dreams and “night-mares” are generally associated with indigestion and biliousness*, which also occasion a general restlessness.

Treatment for Insomnia– The mechanical measures for the relief of insomnia have for their purpose the withdrawing of the blood from the brain to the surface of the skin: hot foot-baths, general warm baths, brisk exercise, light massage, and cold rooms. Mental work should be laid aside several hours before retiring; late suppers avoided; coffee, if taken at all, should only be taken for breakfast, and then only one cup. Reading or amusement should be selected that does not excite the nerves.

To woo sleep the woman should put herself in a position of rest, which of itself physiologically induces sleep. Avoid irritations, noises, bad air, cold feet, overloaded bowels, all of which tend to wakefulness to prevent the proper physical rest. Then sleep usually comes of itself.

Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for Women (1911) by Anna M. Galbraith

*Note: Biliousness is an old-fashioned word that refers to gastric distress or excess secretion of bile.

Wind Almost Blew Home . . .

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

Tuesday, April 2, 1912:It rained nearly all day. Coming home the wind almost blew me along.

A rainy day last summer at the farm where Grandma lived when she wrote the diary. That day the wind also would have blown a person down the road.

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

Grandma would have had to walk a mile or so from school to home. Sometimes when the weather was bad Grandma’s father picked her and her brother Jimmie up at school, but he apparently didn’t do it on that day.

I bet that Grandma had wet shoes by the time she got home–and that she set them next to the wood/coal stove in the kitchen to dry.

April Fool’s Day

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

Monday, April 1, 1912:

April

Bidding adieu to Winter

Welcoming the approaching Spring

So comes the months of spring time.

How merrily the birds doth sing.

I was fooled once and only once today. While in a hurry this evening I landed on the ground. I don’t think I hurt myself any, but I did bump my knees.

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

I knew my elderly Grandmother. Her diary provides a window into what she was like as a teen. It’s fun to see how remnants of the fun, quirky teen in this diary were part of Grandma’s personality throughout her life.

Last year several relatives wrote guest posts about their memories of Grandma. My cousin Anne Marie wrote about an April’s Fools day when Grandma was in her late 60’s or early 70’s.

One April Fools Day Grandma took an old newspaper from her basement and carefully glued all of the pages together and quietly placed it in our newspaper box. I can still hear Mom laughing when she tried to read the paper that day and it didn’t take her long to figure out who the prankster was.

Photo of the house Grandma lived in during her later years. It was next door to my cousin's house.

(See more guest posts with relative’s memories of Grandma by clicking on the Family Memories category.)

March Went Out Like a Lion

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

Sunday, March 31, 1912:Today has been a glorious day. Went to Sunday school this morning and to church this evening with Ruth.

I can picture Grandma and her sister Ruth walking this street in McEwensville–past these houses–on a beautiful spring day a hundred years ago.

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

There an old saying that if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb—and that if it came in a like a lamb it will go out like a lion.

Grandma and her sister Ruth walked the mile or so to McEwensville twice on this spring day. It’s always feels good when March ends with good weather.

Did the Mending

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

Saturday, March 30, 1912: Had to put things in some kind of order. Mended some of the rips and tears. No one else wants the position.

DSC02812,crop — Torn overalls--An aside (An aside--in addition to frequent tears, farm work clothes often get stained by grease, soil, etc.)

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

Farm work is hard—and clothes often get torn.

Some things probably changed little between the time that Grandma was a teen and the time that I was a teen.

I have strong memories of there always being a pile of work clothes that need to be mended when I was growing up. On “slow” days it was common to do the mending.

One difference was that I used an electric sewing machine and Grandma would have used a treadle sewing machine.

Marched Out of School

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

Friday, March 29, 1912: At school we always march out, and so you see you are supposed to keep step. But woe betide me, I don’t do it exactly right. Mr. Teacher has gone for me three times about it. This afternoon took me by the arm and walked me along part way.

Recent view of the building that once housed McEwensville School. The high school was on the second floor (and the primary school was on the first).

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

Hmm—sometimes, I’m not exactly sure what to make of a diary entry. And, this is one of those times . . .