Two Unhappy Sisters

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

Saturday, December 20, 1913: Ruth and I had a sorry time of it this evening. It was a tongue fight.

Source: Kimball's Dairy Farmer Magazine (April 1, 1913) — Source: Kimball’s Dairy Farmer Magazine (April 1, 1913)

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

Whew, what anger! What did Grandma and her sister Ruth fight about?

Sometimes when I read a diary entry, I can’t help imagining a story in my mind even though it’s probably wrong.

Here’s the story I imagine—

I think that the fight was about who was going to milk the cows. Ruth went to Sunbury from December 15 to December 19. On the 15th Grandma wrote:

Ruthie left for Sunbury this morning, also left me all the milking, but I’m pretty hardened to that.

Since Grandma did all of the milking for four days while Ruth as gone, I think that she wanted Ruth take a turn at doing all the milking so that Grandma could go somewhere and have a little fun. . . but Ruth refused.

. .. . Or maybe Ruth just took off to visit friends or attend a show without doing her share of the milking, and Grandma was once again forced to do it all. . . . . . . Or. . . .

LaBlache Face Powder

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

Friday, December 19, 1913: Ruthie returned home this afternoon. The same Ruthie that went away last Monday. Wonder what she got me for Xmas.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1913)

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

I think that Grandma’s sister Ruth attended professional development meetings for teachers while she was in Sunbury—but it sounds like she also found a little time to go Christmas shopping.

What Did Ruth buy Grandma? . . . maybe some face powder?

I bet that Grandma was glad to have her sister home. Ruth had gone to Sunbury four days earlier and left Grandma with “all of the milking.”

1913 Jewelry Advertisements

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

Thursday, December 18, 1913: Kept house again and was this time so unfortunate as to burn the coffee. Ma was in town shopping. Wonder what she got for me. All that I know is that it came from a jeweler’s.

Source: Holmes Company Advertisement in November, 1913 issue of Ladies Home Journal

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

Guessing is so much fun. . .

What gift did her mother buy her?. . . a pink cameo pendant? . . . a monogrammed scarf pin? . . . a watch?

Which jeweler did Grandma’s mother go to?. . . maybe Fielder’s in the nearby town of Milton?

Source: Milton Evening Standard (May 27, 1913)

Recent photo of South Front Street, Milton

Burning the Coffee

Until I read this diary entry, I never heard of anyone burning coffee. What is burned coffee? And, what might have happened that caused it to burn?

Salvation Army Request for Donations

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

Tuesday, December 16, 1913: Kept house today and found something to do nearly all day.

Source: National Food Magazine (December, 1914)

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

It’s funny how housework can expand to fill the time available. What did Grandma do to keep busy all day? . . pick up? . . . dust? . . . sweep the floor?

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’m sharing a December, 1914 request for donations from the Salvation Army. I went grocery shopping today, and the Salvation Army bell-ringer was outside the supermarket. It’s interesting to see how it was done a hundred years ago.

Left with All the Milking

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

Monday, December 15, 1913: Ruthie left for Sunbury this morning, also left me all the milking, but I’m pretty hardened to that.

Row 1: Rachel Oakes (middle), Blanche Bryson (right). Row 2: Ruth Muffly (left) Source: The History of McEwensville Schools by Thomas Kramm (Used with permission)

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

Grandma and her sister Ruth typically shared the milking chore—and when one of the sister’s went somewhere, the other had to do all of the work.

Is there a bit of annoyance in this diary entry? . . perhaps Ruth missed milkings more frequently than Grandma.

Ruth was a teacher at a nearby one-room school house. I think that she went to Sunbury to attend a teacher’s meeting.

Schools had longer Christmas breaks back then –and teachers sometimes attended trainings during part of the break. Sunbury is the county seat of Northumberland County, and is located about 15 miles from McEwensville.

Ruth had also gone to Sunbury in December of the previous year:

Our dearest Ruth left for Sunbury this morning and my heart is rather sad.

December 16, 1912

There is a photo in The History of the McEwensville Schools 1800-1958 of Ruth and the other 11 women who attended a teachers’ meeting in Sunbury in 1913. I’m not sure whether the photo was taken at the December meeting or whether it was taken at an earlier teacher’s meeting in Sunbury that took place in May.

The other two women identified in the photo were Rachel Oakes and Blanche Bryson. Both are mentioned in the diary. They were friends of Grandma and Ruth—as well as teachers. You may enjoy these previous posts about Blanche Bryson:

Blanche and Margaret Bryson

My Memories of Blanche Bryson Kramm

Hat Blew Off and Almost Landed in a Mud Puddle

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

Sunday, December 14, 1913: Went to Sunday School this morning. My nice new hat blew off. By good fortune it didn’t land in a mud puddle, but on the grass. Came back and pinned it on for I hadn’t gone very far. Mother doesn’t know it.

Hat.Pin.crop — Grandma probably used a hat pin similar to this one when she pinned her hat on after the near catastrophe.

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

Whew, thank goodness it didn’t fall into the mud puddle.

It’s probably the hat that Grandma bought on November 15, 1913:

. . . I went to Milton this morning on a shopping tour. I got the daintiest hat I’ve ever had for a while. It is black velvet, trimmed with old rose ribbon and pink velvet flowers.

Sometimes I wish that I was an artist. Somehow the picture I used to illustrate this diary entry seems particularly lame when the descriptions were so vivid.

I can picture it in my mind—the beautiful black velvet hat trimmed with ribbons and flowers, the expression of horror on Grandma’s face as a gust of wind tore the hat from her head (and then the look of relief when it landed in the grass), ominous black clouds, the trees with bare branches (and Grandma’s coat and skirts) blowing in the wind. . .

Bed Jackets

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

Saturday, December 13, 1913: Nothing much going on here today.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (November, 1913)

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

Since Grandma didn’t write much a hundred years ago today, I’ll share a gift idea: bed jackets.

I associate bed jackets with elderly women –but they apparently were popular gifts for young women a hundred years ago. Ladies Home Journal included pictures of them on pages that contained homemade gift ideas. Bedrooms were cold and drafty back then, so everyone apparently needed bed jackets.

They were sometimes called coming jackets, negligee jackets, or sacques in old issues of Ladies Home Journal.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1912)