Dangerously Humid: 3 Die in NYC

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

Thursday, July 16 – Friday, July 17, 1914: Am having a hot time of it.

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

This is the second day of a two-day diary entry. New York City is about 125 miles east of McEwensville. Here’s what the New York Times had to say about the weather there on July 17, 1914.

The weather sounds oppressive—and dangerous. My favorite line in the article is:

There is a light southerly breeze at the Battery, but it as warm as if it had blown over the Sudan desert at Wadi Halfi. . .

Somehow high humidity and desert breezes don’t seem like they belong in the same sentence. . . but whatever. . . It’s a very graphic description. 🙂

Do Canning on a Cool Day

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

Thursday, July 16 – Friday, July 17, 1914: Am having a hot time of it.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (August, 1914) — Source: *Ladies Home Journal* (August, 1914)

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

This is probably a stretch—but could the Muffly’s be canning fruits or vegetables? . . . maybe cherries? . . . or green beans? Canning is a very hot job.

According to the August, 1914 issue of Ladies Home Journal:

Canning is the process of putting up fruits or vegetables in air-tight jars either with or without sugar. Preserving is the preparation of fruits with sufficient sugar to keep without fermentation whether air-tight or not. If possible do the canning on cool days. . .

Maybe the produce was at its peak . . . and they just couldn’t wait for a cool day like the magazine recommended.

Wednesday Chores

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

Wednesday, July 15, 1914: Wednesday—Perhaps a little different from other days.

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

Grandma. . .HOW is Wednesday different from other days? Did your family have specific chores for each day of the week?

Washing clothes on Monday. .

Did you do the mending on Wednesdays? Different lists have different chores for Wednesday, but the most frequently mentioned one seems to be mending. I’ve also seen lists where the ironing is listed as the Wednesday chore.

Sufficient Rainfall: Crops Making Promising Progress

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

Tuesday, July 14, 1914: It’s raining some these days. One can even tire of the rain for a time.

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

Grandma—

I understand! I tire of rain very quickly, too. But rain is good.

It looks like Pennsylvania (and most of the rest of the country) is getting enough rain, and the crops are doing well. I bet that your father is happy.

Source: Wall Street Journal (July 15, 1914)

Acme Dress Form Advertisement

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

Friday, July 10 – Saturday, July 11, 1914: Forgot the particulars of these days.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (February, 1914) — Source: *Ladies Home Journal* (February, 1914)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write any specific for this date, I’ll share an advertisement that I found for Acme Dress Forms. I knew a few people who had dress forms when I was a kid. Does anyone have them anymore?

Forgot the Particulars

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

Thursday, July 10 – Friday, July 11, 1914: Forgot the particulars of these days.

Did Grandma go up to McEwensville to visit friends?

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

Grandma’s had a dry spell lately—the previous four days (July 6-9), she merely wrote “nothing doing.” Now, apparently on July 12, she wrote an entry that explained away the 10^th and 11^th.

. . . or maybe she went shopping in Watontown? — . . . or maybe she went shopping in Watsontown?

Why weren’t all six days combined into one entry? It almost seems like Grandma actually wrote the “nothing doing” for the first four days on the 9^th—then again set the diary aside for a couple more days.

. . . or led a horse as the hay was unloaded into the hay mow?

, , , or sat in the house and dreams of more exciting days to come? — , , , or sat in the house and dreamed of more exciting days to come?

CSAs of Yesteryear

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

Thursday, July 9, 1914: Nothing doing.

Source: Vegetable Gardening (1914) — Source: *Vegetable Gardening* (1914)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write much, I’m going to go off on a tangent. I was surprised to discover that some vegetables were marketed using a method similar to modern CSAs (community support agriculture) a hundred years ago.

H.B. Fullerton, of Long Island, has developed a package which he calls the home hamper. This is filled with a seasonable variety of vegetables and expressed directly to the consumer at stated times as may be agreed on.

This gives the customers the variety of vegetables they may desire and enables them to obtain them fresh. A cut of this hamper is shown in Fig. 58. A certain priced hamper is usually agreed on for the season or for the year.

Vegetable Gardening (1914) by Samuel B. Green