Sway: Archaic Definition

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

Tuesday, February 11, 1913: We are trying to get a program in sway for our next meeting.

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

Hmm…How do you get a “program in sway”? What were they trying to do?

On February 7, 1913 Grandma wrote that she was elected president of the Literary Society. I think that she and the other officers were trying to pull together the program for the next meeting.

According to the Free Online Dictionary, sway can be either a verb or a noun. One meaning for the noun is “control”. So in other words, they were trying to get the program under control.

Play Rehearsals Aren’t Very Interesting

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

Monday, February 10, 1913: Had to go up to practice again this evening. Really I don’t think it is as interesting as I imagined it would be.

The road Grandma would have walked to McEwensville.

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

Grandma plays the role of Chloe, the servant, in the class play.

Play rehearsals aren’t all fun and games. It’s hard work to practice the lines, figure out the staging, and get it all pulled together.

Hopefully there was a bit of time for socializing, clowning around, and other hijinks.

Didn’t Study Catechize Lesson

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

Sunday, February 9, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. I forget to study my catechize lesson, so I didn’t know it very well.

The McEwensville Baptist Church was torn down many years ago, but Grandma would have walked down this road to go to church.

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

Grandma occasionally mentioned catechism classes in the diary. The first time she mentioned it was on the very first day of the diary—January 1, 1911:

. . . This afternoon I went to Sunday school and attended catechize after church. On my way home I received a charming new year’s gift. (Thanks to the donor.) The first day of the new year is almost spent and I feel rather sad.

The most recent time was on September 22, 1912 when she wrote:

Went to S.S. this afternoon and attended Catechize.

Whew, Grandma’s been taking catechism classes for more than two years. That seems like a really long time. And, she also seems really old to be taking them. She’s 17—almost 18 years old. I believe that Grandma attended the McEwensville Baptist Church.

I wonder:

How many years did young people need to attend catechism classes before they could join the church a hundred years ago?

What was the typical age when people joined the church back then?

Went to Box Social

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

Saturday, February 8, 1913: Went to Watsontown this morning to get some stuff for a box social. Ruth and I went up to McEwensville this evening. I did not spend a very enjoyable evening since the person I wanted to get my box didn’t get it and the person I didn’t want to get it got it. Rode home with Ruth and her friend. He’s one of the bald-headed types.

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

I think this is the first box social that Grandma’s gone to since she began the diary—though her sister Ruth went to one in February, 1912.

Box socials always seem like something out of story books. The girls prepared beautiful box lunches with enough food for two that were then auctioned off to raise funds for the school or some charity.

The winning bidder would eat the food with the girl who made the box.

It sounds like the box social turned into a disaster for Grandma.

Ruth was 21—the guy she was with sounds older. How old was he?. . . 30??. . . older??

Elected President of Literary Society

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

Friday, February 7, 1913: We had our literary meeting this afternoon and also elected officers to take the place of the old ones. They had to go and elect me president.

Building that once houses McEwensville School.

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

Way to go Grandma!—You’ve put so much energy into the Literary Society and it’s awesome that you’re now the president.

On November 1, 1912, you wrote:

We organized a Literary Society at school this afternoon. I am one of the committee. Just what I wanted to be.

Why was there an election just three months after the society was organized? Were there problems with the previous officers. . .or had they always planned to have elections every couple of months?

1913 Victor-Victrola Advertisement

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

Wednesday, February 5, 1913: Nothing very much for today. Went up to practice this evening.

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

Grandma was going to be in her class play, and went back into McEwenville in the evening for play practice. (She probably had to come home after school to help milk the cows.)

Grandma obviously appreciated whatever culture was available in her small rural community. I recently found this advertisement for Victor Victrola’s in the March 15, 1913 issue of a farm magazine called Kimball’s Dairy Farmer.

If there is any place where a Victor-Victrola is needed and sure to be appreciated, it is in the homes of the farmers—in your house.

You haven’t the opportunities city people have for attending the theatre, opera, and musical concerts—and yet you have real need of such entertainment to rest body and mind after your day of toil.

And you can have it with a Victor-Victrola in your home. You can enjoy the world’s best music, sung and played by the same great artists who entertain the large city audiences.

You can hear whatever kind of music you like right now.

You don’t have to wait until you feel you can afford a $100 or $200 instrument—any Victor-Victrola you choose as the instrument for your home will play every record in the Victor catalog, and will give you almost as perfect music as the Victor- Victrola XVI, the instrument by which the value of all musical instruments in measured.

Any Victor dealer in any city in the world will gladly demonstrate the Victor-Victrola to you and play any music you wish to hear.

Write us for the handsome illustrated Victor catalogs.

Victor Talking Machine Co., Camden, N.J.

Berliner Gramophone Co., Montreal, Canadian Distributors

Victor-Victrola XVI, $200, Mahogany or quartered oak

Victor-Victrola X, $75 Mahogany or oak

Victor-Victrola VI, $25, Oak

Victor-Victrola IX, $50, Mahogany or oak

Other styles $15, $40, $100, $150

Victor: “His Master’s Voice”

Did Students Memorize Dates in History a Hundred Years Ago?

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

Tuesday, February 4, 1913: We had an exam in General History this morning. It was a review of all we had gone over this year. I was so afraid I’d make a sorry mark, so I began to review but I didn’t get over it all. I got some things wrong, but then I know I got more right. At least I think so.

Picture on page 155 of the hundred-year-old textbook — Roman Fleet (Source: Outlines of General History by V.A. Renouf)

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

Did Grandma need to memorize dates for the exam?

Here’s what the Suggestions for Teachers section of a hundred-year-old text-book had to say about memorizing dates:

In conclusion, I will touch on the question of learning dates. These should be memorized by all students. It is well to bring as many events as possible into relation with a memorized date. The few students who have a ready memory for dates can be encouraged to remember most or all of them; but the majority of the class should not be burdened with more than are necessary for a correct general perspective of the centuries.

Outlines of General History (1909) by V.A Renouf

Would a history teacher today agree or disagree with this suggestion?

The book also included some sample questions that teachers might use. I did a previous post that included a few of the sample questions:

History Test Questions a Hundred Years Ago