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

Tuesday, December 9, 1913:  Fizzed around this morning pretending to be doing something, but in reality doing nothing. Really it is wonderful the ways I manage to put the time in.

Went to a lecture with Ruth this evening in Watsontown. Fortunately we didn’t have to walk. We rode in a carriage. The lecture was real good and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

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

Grandma—

I love the word picture you created. I sometimes fizz around when really doing nothing—but won’t have been able to describe nearly as well as you did.

—

Who took Grandma and her sister Ruth to the lecture in Watsontown in a carriage?

In the early 1900s lectures presented by traveling speakers were very popular in small towns. The lectures brought culture to the towns, and often were inspirational and entertaining—though they sometimes addressed serious topics.

Somehow this diary entry makes me think of Main Street by Sinclair Lewis—though it was written a little after this time period. (Main Street was published in 1920.)

Grandma attended a single lecture, but this is how Main Street described a lecture series:

(The main character in the novel, Carol Kennicott, was from a city and struggled to fit into the small town of Gopher Prairie, so she had a somewhat negative view of the lectures.)

Nine lecturers, four of them ex-ministers, and one an ex-congressman, all of them delivering “inspirational addresses.” The only facts or opinions which Carol derived from them were: Lincoln was a celebrated president of the United States, but in his youth extremely poor. James J. Hill was the best-known railroad-man of the West, and in his youth was extremely poor. Honesty and courtesy in business are preferable to boorishness and exposed trickery, but this is not to be taken personally, since all persons in Gopher Prairie are known to be honest and courteous. London is a large city. A distinguished statesman also taught Sunday School.

Four “entertainers” who told Jewish stories, Irish stories, German stories, Chinese stories, and Tennessee mountaineer stories, most of which Carol had heard.

A “lady elocutionist” who recited Kipling and imitated children.

A lecturer with motion-pictures of an Andean exploration; excellent pictures and a halting narrative.

Three brass-bands, a company of six opera-singers, a Hawaiian sextette, and four youths who played saxophones and guitars disguised as wash-boards . . .

from Main Street by Lewis Sinclair

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

Monday, December 8, 1913:  Had to help Daddy with his work today. He has a sore back and can’t do much.

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

Grandma-

Oh dear, I hope your father isn’t in too much misery.  A backache can be so, so painful.

You must have a soft spot in your heart for your father when he’s ill. You generally refer to him as Pa, but I see that today you called him Daddy.

_____

Often when I start researching a post, I’m amazed by how much information I find. Today isn’t one of those days.

I thought that it would be easy to find information in hundred-year-old books about how treat backaches—but I found very little.

I got a 1913 book out of the library called When to Send for the Doctor and What to do Before the Doctor Comes. It had information about sore throats, fevers, sick stomachs, and bowel troubles—but nothing about backaches.

I then pulled out a 1911 book called Personal Hygiene and Physical Training for Women  –even though it was her father and not her mother with the backache—because it has lots of great health care information. And, I again came up short. Nothing about backaches–just some information about posture, rounded shoulders, and curvature of the spine.

Finally, I got out my copy of The Compendium of Every Day Wants (1908). It didn’t have detailed information, but I finally found some liniments and ointments for “lame back.” For example, here are directions for making a liniment that could be used to “bath” the sore area:

Mix 1/3 pound of cayenne pepper with 1 pint of pure alcohol.

Today, there are lots of books with detailed information about treating backaches. I can’t figure out why I couldn’t find much in the hundred-year-old books. I’ll have to dig around some more, and if I learn more about old-time backache treatments I’ll tell you about them in a future post.

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

Sunday, December 7, 1913:  Went to Sunday School this morning. It proved to be rather rainy. Made a call this afternoon. Ruth and I were going to church this evening, but it started to rain.

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

What does “made a call” mean? Did Grandma mean that she visited a friend? . . . .or did she mean that she made a telephone call?

Telephones were unusual enough a hundred years ago that a phone call may have merited a mention in the diary.

In the 1910s telephone lines were being strung from poles in the general area,  but I’m uncertain whether Grandma’s family had a phone. Some families who lived in town or along the main road between Watsontown and McEwensville definitely had one.

Back in 1911, Grandma wrote:

. . .This afternoon I went over to Stout’s. My first experience in telephoning. The voice at the other end of the wire sounded rather squeaky. I telephoned to Besse.

May 8, 1911

(Stout’s lived near the Muffly’s on a farm along the main road. Besse was Grandma’s married sister, and she also lived on the main road.)