Trying to Memorize an Abominable Poem

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

Tuesday, March 5, 1912: I’m trying to commit that abominable piece of poetry to memory and it’s no easy task either, although it is short in the extreme. I only hope I know it, when the time comes to say it.

A hundred years ago Grandma was sitting inside this house trying to memorize an abominable poem.

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

What could the abominable poem have been? A hundred years ago people memorized recitations, poems, and Bible verses more than they do today.

Grandma generally did not complain about needing to memorize something. For example, one Sunday she memorized 27 Bible verses. This poem must have had some very difficult text (a dialect perhaps??).

The Poem of Quotes website provides information about lots of 18th and 19th century poets and poems. I browsed through it, but am not familiar enough with old poetry to even guess which poem Grandma was trying to memorize.

Took Little Brother to Sunday School

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

Sunday, March 3, 1912: Went to Sunday School this morning. Took Jimmie along with me. He seems to like going very much, but looked afraid at first.

Carrie was over this afternoon. Ruth and I accompanied by Tweet went over to church this evening. Coming home we got a ride with a young friend of Ruth’s.

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

There are lots of names in this diary entry. In case you don’t have them all straight I’ll recap who everyone was. Ruth was Grandma’s older sister, and Jimmie was her 6-year-old brother. Carrie Stout and Tweet (Helen) Wesner were friends of Grandma and Ruth.

It’s somewhat surprising that Jimmie didn’t typically go to Sunday School. Actually, based upon the diary entries, it seems as if their parents didn’t generally go to church or Sunday school. Grandma probably was attending Sunday School at the McEwensville Baptist Church.

Teachers’ Institute

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

Saturday, March 2, 1912: Well I really think I worked pretty good today. I put things in order and washed up and a lot more that comes under Saturday duties .Ruth was up to Turbotville attending Teachers’ Institute so you see I had to be busy. Tweet is here this evening.

Recent photo of Turbotville Community Hall. The building was once a high school and the Teachers' Institute probably was held here.

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

Grandma’s 20-year-old sister Ruth was a teacher at one of the one-room schoolhouses near McEwensville. Ruth had graduated the previous spring from high school and immediately got a teaching position.

A hundred years ago teachers weren’t required to attend college, though they had to pass tests in various content areas. The Saturday teachers’ institute would have provided training and professional development. And, it would have been a wonderful opportunity for the teachers in scattered isolated schools to gather, compare notes, and provide support for one another.

Tweet refers to Helen Wesner. She was a friend of Grandma and Ruth.

Cleopatra

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

Friday, March 1, 1912:

March

This month signifies that the winter is passing.

And soon will be the Springtime

With all its bright scenes and soul stirring dreams,

And memories so long and so dear.

After a whole week of trying to get a theme in readiness, I finished the thing at noon. It came under General History. Cleopatra was what I had to write about. I got it so as to suit my satisfaction. But of course there were some mistakes.

cleopatra.Jean-Leon.Gerome — Late 19th century painting of Cleopatra by Jean-Leon Gerome--Maybe this is what Grandma pictured Cleopatra looking like. (Source: Wikipedia)

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

How did Grandma end up writing about Cleopatra? Did she choose the topic? (If so, why?) . . . or did her teacher assign it? (If so, why did he assign it to her instead of to another student?)

The way I picture Cleopatra is strongly affected by the 1960s movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.—and I can’t quite envision how people thought about her a hundred years ago.

Was Cleopatra’s beauty, charm and ability to control men generally seen in a positive or a negative light back then? The suffragettes were very active a hundred years ago. Do they see Cleopatra as a role model or as a failure of the past to allow women appropriate roles?

Monthly Poem

One the first day of each month Grandma begins the entry with a poem. It’s almost spring! Yeah!

1912: Also a Leap Year

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

Thursday, February 29, 1912: I was quite conscious of the fact that this comes only once in four years. This day I mean. We had a visitor at school today. Two I may say. One was the county superintendent. By good luck he wasn’t there, when we had a hard study to go through.

A hundred years ago the country superintendent probably came down this road with a horse and buggy as he entered the McEwensville. The road wasn't paved back then.

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

It’s interesting that it was also a leap year a hundred years ago. (If I had thought about it, I would have been able to easily figure out that both years were leap years, but somehow I was surprised.)

I wish that I had a better understanding of how school systems were organized in 1912. Then, as now, the state was responsible for public education.

Counties were the intermediary unit between the state and the schools a hundred years ago in Pennsylvania. There were not large school districts back then. Many of the consolidated districts—including the Warrior Run School District that now includes McEwensville— were formed in the 1950s.

The superintendent of schools for the county probably visited McEwensville High School because of the mid-year change in teachers. McEwensville High School got a new teacher just ten days prior to the writing of this entry. The superintendent probably came to see how the new teacher was doing. I hope that he passed with flying colors!

Sister Visiting A Friend: Peace and Quiet, But More Work

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

Wednesday, February 27, 1912: I helped Ruth decide a question this morning. She was invited out to spend the evening and staid all night. I decided that she should accept the invitation and so she did. But the other part is that I will have her milking tomorrow morning.

Recent photo of the barn that Grandma milked cows in a hundred years ago.

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

There are trade-offs to everything. In this diary entry Grandma was weighing the benefits and “costs” of her sister Ruth staying overnight at a friend’s house.

Benefit

Peace and quiet: Grandma got a quiet evening alone without Ruth. She shared a bedroom with her sister, so she also would have had the room to herself.

“Cost”

More work: In exchange for the peace and quiet Grandma had to milk more cows than usual in the morning.

Received Report Card

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

Monday, February 26, 1912: Went through the snow to school this morning and came home through the rain. One good things I didn’t have to walk this evening. Received my report card today. I knew what my marks were for I had caught a glimpse of them some time previous. Mine has the downward tendency this month. Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

How did Grandma know what her grades were going to be prior to receiving the report card? Was she again snooping around the teacher’s desk?

Grandma’s teacher caught her cheating in late January—and she did not cheat when she took her tests in February. It’s too bad that her grades didn’t reflect her better behavior—though I suppose they more accurately reflected what she knew.