Chasing a Pig

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

Thursday, July 3, 1913: I and a pig ran a race this evening. It led me up and down the road three or four times. I wonder how much speck I lost.

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

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

Speck is an old-fashioned term for weight. I think that the way it is used in this sentence has Pennsylvania Dutch or German origins.

I bet Grandma lost a pound or two. I’ve chased pigs a few times in my life and they are darn hard to catch.

I’m not talking about greased pigs that are sometimes seen in competitions at fairs. I’m referring to chasing a run of the mill farm pig that has escaped from a field or pen. You’d think that it would be easy to chase back into the field or pen. Wrong!!

When chasing a cow, all you need to do to get it to turn is to stand in front of it—and the cow will immediately turn and can be directed back into the pen or field. Pigs, however, are very smart (and surprisingly fast), and they know where you want them to go. No matter what you do, a pig will refuse to head in the direction you want it to go. If you stand in front of a pig to try to make it turn, it will almost run you over as it continues going wherever it feels like going.

Getting a Tan (Back in the Days Before Tans Were Popular)

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

Monday, June 30, 1913: I’m getting a liberal covering of tan on my arms. As for my hands they experienced that some time ago.

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

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

Two days ago Grandma wrote that she had to help make hay. They probably were still making hay. I picture Grandma leading horses, or using a pitchfork to sling hay onto the wagon, with the hot sun beating down on her.

An aside: I’m intrigued by the picture that I found to illustrate this post. Is it my imagination or is there a huge bridge in the background of this 1913 photo? There couldn’t have been many bridges like that a hundred years ago in agricultural areas. Does anyone have any idea where the photo may have been taken?

McEwensville High School Teacher Got Married

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

Sunday, June 29, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Tweet came down this evening.

Source: Milton Evening Standard (June 26, 1913)

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

Tweet was a nickname of Helen Wesner. She was a friend of Grandma’s .

Did Grandma and Tweet gossip about the latest news in McEwensville a hundred years ago tonight?

An aside–All of the pieces don’t quite fit together in this post, so feel free to take the information with a grain of salt, but here goes—

Grandma’s former teacher at McEwensville got married. . .to a former student!

On August 26, 1912 Grandma described Bruce Bloom, her teacher during her senior year:

. . . He is rather wide, wears a pair of pinchers, and has yellow hair. Not so very cross, but I believe he could be.

The newspaper clipping says that Bruce married Mary C. Rothermel of McEwensville on the previous Monday (June 23, 1913).

I have the 1913 commencement program for McEwensville High School and it indicates that Mary C. Rothermel (as well as Grandma) were members of the class of 1913.

Now to the part about all of the pieces not quite fitting together—the newspaper article indicates that Mary C. Rothermel was a graduate of Bloomsburg State Normal School which suggests that she was a little older and not a recent graduate of the high school. . . But in a tiny village like McEwensville how could there have possibly been two Mary C. Rothermels?

I’m probably way off base—and trying to create something to gossip about a hundred years later when there really is nothing of particular interest—but I almost want to argue that the newspaper made a typo and that the groom rather than the bride was the graduate of Bloomsburg State Normal School.

And, while I’m worrying about the details, there’s another little thing that bothers me–Why did Bruce and Mary get married in Renovo on a Monday at the church parsonage? Mary was from McEwensville; Bruce was from Sunbury which is about 20 miles south of McEwensville. Renovo is a very remote town way up in the mountains about 75 miles northwest of McEwensville. Did they elope?

Whoa! I need to rein myself in. . . Improbable as it seems, there probably were two Mary C. Rothermels in McEwensville . . . and the boring newspaper clipping probably accurately tells the entire story.

Got Initiated Into the Hay Field

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

Saturday, June 28, 1913: Got initiated into the hay field this afternoon, and I can say that I didn’t stay there very long either.

1913-07-52.b — Source: Ladies Home Journal (July, 1913)

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

How did Grandma manage to convince her father that she didn’t need to help for very long? It takes a lot of labor to make hay, and I’m surprised that he allowed her to be a slacker.

First the grass needed to be cut, and periodically turned as it dried.

After the grass had dried into hay, it was loaded onto wagons. Horses needed to be held and led as the hay was gathered, and workers needed to fork it onto the wagon.

And, of course, this all needed to be done very quickly—with eyes always looking towards the sky for any clouds that might suggest an impending storm. As the old saying says—Make hay while the sun shines.

You may also enjoy a previous post about how hay was unloaded from wagons a hundred years ago and moved into the haymows in the barn:

Hay Pulleys and Ropes

1913 Kodak Camera Ad

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

Wednesday, June 25, 1913: Went up to McEwensville this afternoon to transact some very important business, or rather so it seemed to me.

Now what could it be? Nothing less than that I sent off for a camera. I’ve wanted one for a long time, but thought I could hardly afford it. I was reminded that I really wanted it only by finding a camera catalog up in the garret yesterday. And as I had earned almost five dollars during the last two weeks, I carried the project through.

Source: Ladies Home Journal (May, 1913)

If it isn’t an Eastman, it isn’t a Kodak.

It’s springtime. Every field and park and woodland—every walk and ride, every joyous outing, invites your KODAK.

Eastman Kodak Co.,

Rochester, N.Y., The Kodak City.

Catalogue free at your dealers or by mail.

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

A camera sounds like a lot of fun. What a great thing for Grandma to spend her money on!

Grandma made quite a bit picking strawberries—and, of course, she had money that she received earlier in the spring as graduation presents.

1913 Quelques Fleurs Perfume Advertisement

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

Sunday, June 22, 1913: Went to Sunday School this afternoon.

QUELQUES FLEURS

New Perfume HOUBIGANT

Abroad, the odor of the hour

Sample Bottle will delight you–25¢

Park & Tilford, 225 Fifth Ave., New York

“CAPTIVATED PARIS IN A DAY”

Source: Ladies Home Journal (October, 1913)

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

When I was young I used to put a little perfume on before going to church. (You never knew where you might see a cute guy who would appreciate perfume.)

Did Grandma also spritz on a little perfume before going to Sunday School?

This is what Wikipedia says about Quelques Fleurs perfume:

In 1912, the Houbigant presented Quelques Fleurs, the first true multi-floral bouquet ever created. Up to that time, floral fragrances had been mostly single flowers or were blended with herbs and other essences. The Genealogy of Perfumes cites Quelques Fleurs as a landmark innovation that established a totally new fragrance classification and influenced other compositions for years afterwards including many of today’s important fragrances.

Piano Lesson Was A Long Hour

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

Saturday, June 21, 1913: My music teacher came this morning, and I spent a long hour in taking my lesson.

Source: The Mechanics of Piano Technic (1909)

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

This is the second week since Grandma began taking piano lessons. Why did the hour seem long?

Was she learning “boring” but important basics like how to hold her hands and how to properly hit the keys?

I’m still looking for hundred-year-old music books for beginning piano students, but I did find a college-text on playing the piano:

The principal difficulty of piano playing we found to be the production of sufficient power, and the economical application of the power to all kinds of passages, with velocity and under delicate control. Tone quality may be harsh if the strings are unduly vibrated, or thin if the quantity of vibration be too small to excite all the overtones.

The Mechanics of Piano Technic by Ethelbert Warren Grabill (1909)