17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, May 22, 1912: And leave it blank.
Left to right: Ruth (Muffly) Gauger, Helen(a) (Muffly) Swartz, circa 1975
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma wrote next to nothing a hundred years ago today—though she obviously felt compelled to write something—I’m going continue sharing pictures.
This is a photo of Grandma and her sister Ruth that was taken very late in their lives. Ruth died in 1977 and Grandma in 1980, so I’m guessing that it was taken in the mid-1970s.
In some odd way I think this photo is one of my favorites.
After a lifetime of good times and difficult times, it’s fun to see the two elderly sisters sharing stories and reminiscing. Regardless of age, life is good!
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, May 21, 1912: Ruth was away nearly all day. I’m getting so tired on my repetition. One that seems to never have an end.
Seated adults (left to right): Ruth (Muffly) Gauger, Helen(a) Muffly Swartz, Raymond Swartz, Bill Gauger
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Many of the pictures that I recently found were from time periods more recent than the diary, but I think that you’ll enjoy some over them, so I’ll share a few over the next couple days .
The picture today was taken in 1961, about 50 years after the diary, at the 40th wedding anniversary party of my grandparents.
Both my grandmother and grandfather graduated in 1913 from McEwensville High School; however, I don’t think that Grandma ever mentions him in the diary. It always seems really odd to me that she never mentions the guy she ends up marrying since they attended an extremely small high school. (There were six people in the graduating class).
Classmate and Future Husband: Raymond Swartz
I think that the reason may have been that Grandpa was 3 1/2 years younger than Grandma. He apparently skipped several grades and probably was considered the smart little kid in the class—but was not part of Grandma’s social set until sometime later.
Ruth Muffly
The husband of Grandma’s sister Ruth, Bill Gauger was a few years older than Grandma and was mentioned in the diary.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, May 19, 1912:Must go to Sunday School this afternoon. Wore my white dress. Uncle Sam was here this afternoon.
Recent photo of the railroad tracks that cross the Muffly farm.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Well, we now know a little more about the new dress. It was white.
Sam Muffly was a brother of Grandma’s father, Albert. In 1912, he would have been 45 years old. He was single and lived in the small hamlet of Ottawa (Pennsylvania) with his younger brother George and his widowed sister and her two children. I think that he was a farmer.
Ottawa is about 10 miles east of McEwensville. He probably came on the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg and Berwick train since its route took it through both the Muffly farm and Ottawa. The train had a whistle-stop at a feed mill which was located very near the farm.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, May 18, 1912: What a doleful calamity. I had to watch the cows this morning, I mean this afternoon. I’m afraid that this is only the beginning. They got into the wheat for me.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I bet that Grandma’s father was upset with her for allowing the cows to get into the wheat field. The cows could have done a lot of damage as they tramped through the field and nibbled the lush green wheat plants.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, May 17, 1912: Went to McEwensville this afternoon. Mousie had some business for me to transact.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I assume that Mousie referred to Grandma’s mother.
Mother: Phoebe Muffly
Did Grandma think that her mother was “mousie” and lacked an appreciation of what fashionable dresses should look like?
The previous day’s diary entry referred to a disagreement with her mother over a dress that her mother was making for her. My take on that entry was that her mother didn’t quite get how to make the dress look stylish— probably because her tastes were mousie–but that Grandma persevered and the dress ended up okay.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, May 16, 1912:Oh dear today was one raining day. My dress is finished, but such a time as Ma and I had to get it so. She made it and I did the bossing. If I could have a good pen my writing might look some better.
I noticed that there were small line drawings in the old Ladies Home Journal (June, 1911) magazine that showed the back of several of the dresses that I featured in previous posts, and thought you might enjoy seeing both the front and back of the dresses.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Yeah, the dress was finished! Grandma mentioned the dress at least three times during May.
May 8: Did some sewing this afternoon. I have so many things to fix over and a dress I want to get made. . .
May 13: Ma got my dress on the go at last and I’ll keep at her until she gets it made.
May 15: We had sort of a sewing bee. Ma worked on my dress . . .
What could Grandma and her mother have disagreed about regarding the dress?
In other words, what stylish features did young people like a hundred years ago that their mothers thought were inappropriate or didn’t think looked good? . . . tight bodices? . . . shorter dresses that exposed ankles? . . . low necklines? . . . ???
