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.
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 . . .
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, March 24, 1912:I haven’t much to write today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t write much today, I’m going to go off on a tangent—
I happened upon a list of qualities needed to succeed in business in a 1912 magazine, and was surprised how relevant the list still seems today.
Qualities Needed to Succeed in Business
- Health
- Honesty
- Ability
- Initiative
- Knowledge of the Business
- Tact
- Sincerity
- Industry
- Open-Mindedness
- Enthusiasm
- Organization
The most important thing is to organize ourselves—make ourselves do the important work. We succeed only in proportion as we get the best work from other people. So I say let’s not drive tacks with a sledge hammer. Let the people who are carrying tack hammers do tack hammer work. If you are carrying a sledge hammer, do heavy work. Do the most important things in your business. Leave the details to other people.
Rural Manhood Magazine, Jan. 1912 (Published by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA)
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, March 24, 1912: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. It was slushy walking and kept on drizzling.
Jimmie threatened with the whooping cough. I don’t want him to get it, nor do I want to get it myself. I would have to stop school if I do, and that I shouldn’t like to.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Sounds like miserable weather. Grandma had worried in her March 9 post that she was getting whooping cough—now she had similar worries about her six-year-old brother Jimmy.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Saturday, March 23, 1912:Ruth and I went to Milton this morning on a shopping tour. I needed a pair of new shoes and so I got them. We went in and came out on the train so you can see we weren’t gone long.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Milton was about five miles from the Muffly farm. There was a whistle-stop for the Susquehanna, Bloomsburg, and Berwick Railroad near their farm. Grandma and her sister Ruth probably needed to change trains at Watsontown.
A hundred years ago Milton had a thriving downtown. Today better transportation, nearby malls, and several floods have all taken a toll–though hopefully the recent movement toward shopping local will help revive it.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, March 21, 1912: On the first day of spring the ground is white with snow. My seventeenth birthday dawned this morning. Tried to make the most of it. I received two presents. I am staying up later this evening to study longer, also want to see the passing of my birthday.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Happy Birthday, Grandma!
The previous year when Grandma turned 16, she wrote:
I hereby truthfully resolve to be a better and more useful girl in the future than I have been in the past, and may this birthday resolution never be broken.
I sign myself,
Helena Muffly,
Mar. 21, 1911
I wonder if Grandma remembered her resolution—and if she felt like she’d kept it over the course of the year.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, March 20, 1912: I lost myself in reading a book, and as a result went to bed at a quarter of three this morning. I was awfully sleepy when I woke up.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Wow, Grandma must have been reading an awesome book if she stayed up until almost three a.m. And, it was even a school night!!
What could the book have been? A mystery? . A romance?
I bet that she wasn’t reading The Financier by Theodore Dreiser.
__
A couple months ago I wrote a post about books published in 1912 that are still in print—and The Financier was one of them.
In this era of Bernie Madoff and Occupy Wall Street, I wanted to see if a hundred-year-old novel about a crooked financier would still seem relevant.
The book told the story of a man in Philadelphia who misused municipal money to become very, very rich.
Due to unexpected circumstances, the whole scheme unraveled and he went to jail.
I found the details of his financial scheming confusing and boring—but I did get insights into the psychology of someone who might commit financial fraud.
The book also explored social norms, and seemed very supportive of extra-marital affairs and divorce in a era when divorce was very rare—though the characters had to pay a price for finding happiness.
After the financier got out of jail—he did what he was born to do. He moved to Chicago and again became rich as he helped to develop the Commodity Exchange.
Bottom line: The book wasn’t optimistic that human nature will change—and suggested that some people just are born to know how to make money, even if it hurts others.
16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, March 19, 1912: We got our report cards to day. It seems to me he marks rather hard in some things. I got my marks raised by two points in deportment, but I don’t see as I’ve improved any in that direction since last month. He was up to visit our school today.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I’m surprised that high school students received grades in “deportment” a hundred years ago.
According to The Free Dictionary, deportment means “the manner in which a person behaves.” At least the teacher apparently was pleased with Grandma’s behavior.
A few days before Grandma received her February report card she’d gotten a new teacher. The old one had quit mid-year. He caught her cheating shortly before he quit. I wonder if her February deportment grade had been affected by that incident—and if her grade had gone up in March because there were no more cheating incidents.
