No Church

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

Sunday, November 2, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. We didn’t have church, so I went for a walk with one of the girls.

Grandma probably walked down Main Street in McEwensville with the girls a hundred years ago today. — Grandma probably walked down Main Street in McEwensville with a friend a hundred years ago today.

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

There’s a rhythm to the diary—and a predictable ebb and flow. But, because of the predictability, occasionally something very minor jumps out at me.

Since I began posting Grandma’s diary entries, 2 years and 10 months ago, I’ve probably posted close to 140 Sunday entries which said that she’d gone to Sunday School. I’ve often wondered why Grandma almost always went to Sunday School, but seldom mentioned church.

But this entry—with Grandma noting an exception (no church)—also tells me about her usual routine. She apparently usually went to both Sunday School and church (or I suppose she could be using the words Sunday School interchangeably to mean either Sunday School or church).

Cleaned Up After Party

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

Saturday, November 1, 1913:

November now is here again

Upon her scenes we’ll linger

Thanksgiving comes e’er she has gone

We count the days upon our fingers.

Not much sleep came to my eyes this morning. Ma got me up at half past four to dry the dishes left from the party. I tell you it was quite a mess, but it was accomplished at last.

Didn’t do much of anything as I was too much done up and by good luck it happened that there wasn’t much to do. Did feel lonesome after all the festivity here last night.

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

If I could get in a time machine, I’d go back and reprimand Grandma’s mother:

I’d angrily scream, “What kind of mother are you? How dare you wake your daughter up at 4:30? The Halloween party made her the happiest she’s been in weeks—let her sleep and bask in the memories for a few hours.

—

But. . . maybe I’m being too hard on Grandma’s mother.

I told my daughter what I was going to write. She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Mothers are just like that. You’d have been mad if I’d left the house a mess after a party. You probably won’t have woken up at 4:30, so you won’t have known it was a mess until later, but you’d have made me clean it up.”

Halloween Parties a Hundred Years Ago

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

Friday, October 31, 1913: At last this old house sees a party. It was fun to see the guests arrive. They were gowned in many crazy ways. One fellow wore a skirt with hoops and looked too silly for anything. We also had a clown, a ghost, and a witch. The rest were dressed in any old way. As for the false faces, they were about as ugly as could be. There were twenty-one in all and made quite a merry company.

As it was Halloween, one of the guests caught it. Someone unhitched his buggy and carted it away, but it was found at last.

1913-10-103.crop — Picture Source: *Ladies Home Journal* (October, 1913)

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

Boo! What a fun party!

Here’s the description of a Halloween party in the October, 1913 issue of McCall’s Magazine:

The house is dark as the guests arrive. A black-robed figure silently opens the door, and mysteriously points them up the staircase, illuminated by a single Jack-o’-Lantern, to a dark room above, where they may remove their wraps. A mysterious something, swathed in a sheet, assists them. . .

As they leave the room voices have dropped to whispers and timid ones stay close together. They follow a series of pointing hands, cut out of black paper, which are indicated by the yellow splotches of candles along the dark hall.

Finally, they come to a large room, dark save for one orange light, where an icy hand takes theirs and leads them to seats. The hand is a glove filled with ice, which the hostess extends. Before the silence becomes oppressive; light appears at the far end of the room behind a sheet. Then begins a shadow pantomime. The real figures are between the light and the sheet, so that the audience sees only their shadows thrown upon the latter.

The pantomime may be anything you choose: not more than four people should be in it, and they will have no end of fun, the week beforehand, working out any scheme they devise.

Some rehearsing will be necessary to regulate the lights, as their distance from the curtain determines whether the shadows will be large or small. The last picture must show witches with capes and high-pointed caps, singing weird incantations over a caldron. They are still there when the sheet is drawn aside and the guests rush forward, to recognize in one of them their hostess. As the lights are raised, the tension breaks and the merriment runs high.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween Place Cards

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

Thursday, October 30, 1913: Everything is almost ready for the party and I am anticipating the fun we will have.

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

I’m almost as excited as Grandma about the Halloween party she and her sister Ruth were planning.

Were there still a few final touches that needed to be completed? . . . like making place cards?

A hundred years ago, place cards were often made to ensure that just the right people sat next to each other. The October, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal included several sample place cards.

Ice Cream Served in Orange Jack-o’-Lantern Shells

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

Wednesday, October 29, 1913: Ditto

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

Grandma and her sister Ruth were getting ready for a Halloween party they are going to host.

What foods were they planning to serve their guests?

The October, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal had the following suggestion:

Serve ice cream in orange Jack-o’-lantern shells.

Hundred-Year-Old Halloween Bogeyman Craft

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

Tuesday, October 28, 1913: Working away as usual.

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

Hmm. . . Grandma wasn’t exactly doing her usual work. She and her sister Ruth were preparing to host a Halloween party. The previous day they sent invitations to friends.

Were they making any Halloween decorations? . . . Maybe the carrot and apple head bogeyman shown in the October, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal?

Source: Ladies Home Journal (October, 1913)

I’m a bit foggy about why the magazine caption calls the bogeyman a candle holder since I don’t seen any candles in the picture.

The magazine didn’t provide directions for making the bogeyman, and instead said that if you wanted directions for making the “novelties” shown that you should send a stamped self-addressed envelope to the Entertainment Editor.

Here’s how I interpreted the picture when I made the bogeyman:

I bought some old-fashioned fat carrots (and some apples) at the farmer’s market.

I carved a jack-o-lantern face on the apple and then cut a round hole about 1-inch in diameter and 1-inch deep in the bottom of the apple. I dipped the carved face in lemon juice so that it wouldn’t turn brown.

I peeled the carrot and cut the bottom off so that it would sit flat. I then cut away part of the top of the carrot to create narrower piece that could be inserted into the bottom of the apple. I also cut notches on each side of the carrot for the twig arms.

I then assembled the bogeyman. The “buttons” on the front of the carrot are raisins that I attached using pins.

Hundred-Year-Old Halloween Party Invitiations

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

Monday, October 27, 1913: At last and for the first time Ruth is going to pay back some of the entertaining she owes. She is going to give a Halloween Masquerade party. I suggested it over a month ago. I almost gave the thing up last week, but now the invitations are out and I’m fixing things up to beat the kill.

“Invitations written on post cards decorated with button-face freaks Iike those shown will be unique.”

Ladies Home Journal (October, 1913)

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

What fun! Grandma and her sister Ruth were going to have a Halloween party.

The October, 1913 issue of both Ladies Home Journal and McCall’s Magazine included directions for Halloween parties. As Grandma and Ruth prepare for their party over the next few days, I’ll share what the magazines said.

Today, I’m sharing the instructions for making invitations. The direction in Ladies Home Journal are above. Here are the directions in McCalls:

Buy a ten-cent package of black-witch silhouettes, or cut them out yourself, and paste it in the lower corner of the invitation. Across the top write the following:

Attend, attend, attend:

Lend an ear!

The witches are back,

They’re all come here!

They buried them deep,

But they won’t be still

On All Saints’ Eve,

When the winds blow chill.

They’ll meet you here.

At the hour of eight

Come, see queer things

And learn your fate.

On the reverse side of the card the address is written.

Incidentally, the poem from which the above verses are parodies is entitled “The Broomstick Train” by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

McCall’s Magazine (October, 1913)