17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, August 13, 1912: Yes sir,, and I did do the ironing this forenoon. All except two collars. Ruth went up to McEwensville this morning and was a long time coming home. I thought it wasn’t very nice.
Recent photo of some houses in McEwensville
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Yes sir?? . . . Sounds like Grandma was mad at someone (her mother??).
Since Grandma’s sister Ruth didn’t get home in a timely manner, she apparently was ordered to do her sister’s chore (the ironing).
Why did Ruth go to McEwenville? Was it an errand? . . . to visit a friend?
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, August 12, 1912: Went to Watsontown this afternoon to do some shopping, if such you may call it. Took my umbrella along, but it didn’t rain.
Photo source: Wikimedia Commons
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
The previous day Grandma didn’t have her umbrella when she needed it:
. . . .got a dunking in the rain. Took an umbrella along part way, so it happened that I didn’t have it when I needed it the most.
And this day, she was prepared and carried an umbrella, but didn’t need it. Umbrellas didn’t fold as compactly back than as many do today. It probably was a real nuisance the entire time she was shopping.
Sometimes you just can’t win when guessing about the weather. . .
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Sunday, August 11, 1912:Went to Sunday School this afternoon. Went for some apples after I came home and got a dunking in the rain. Took an umbrella along part way, so it happened that I didn’t have it when I needed it the most.
Yellow Transparent Apples (Photo source: Wikipedia)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
I hope that Grandma was able to pick a few apples before it started raining. The first summer apples to ripen each year were special in those days.
Today we have apples year-round (sometimes from thousands of miles away), but in Grandma’s day the last of the apples from the previous year had probably been eaten in March or April—and after so many months in storage those last apples probably had been soft and mealy.
When I was a child, Yellow Transparent apples were the first to ripen each year. They made a wonderfully tart apple sauce. I haven’t seen a Yellow Transparent apple in years—there used to be so many apple varieties, each with a wonderfully unique taste and texture.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, August 8, 1912: Hardly worth while and not worth the effort.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Since Grandma didn’t have much to say a hundred years ago today, I’m again going to go off on a tangent. I’m always intrigued by what happened to the friends that Grandma mentioned in the diary.
I recently found a picture of one friend, Rachel Oakes, when she was an elderly woman. (She’s the one on the left.) It was taken in 1978 at a Red Hill School reunion. Red Hill School was a one-room school located at the southern end of McEwensville.
According to the History of the McEwensville Schools, Rachel taught at Red Hill School during the 1909-10 school year. Later, during the 1910-11 and 1911-12 school years, she was the primary school teacher at McEwensville School. I suppose that it was considered more prestigious to teach at the larger McEwensville School.
Rachel must have been a few years older than Grandma and her sister Ruth. (Ruth graduated from high school in 1911—and Grandma graduated in 1913.)
Note that the article mentions Ruth Gauger—that was Grandma’s sister Ruth’s married name. According to the History of the McEwensville Schools, Ruth taught at Red Hill School during the 1914-15 school year (and her other sister Besse taught there from 1906-09).
Recent photo of building that once housed Red Hill School. It is now a home.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Wednesday, August 7, 1912:Was donated with a pair of shoes. First time since I don’t know when. Ma and I had sort of a scrap this afternoon!
Here’s an ad for shoes in the Milton Evening Standard from May 4, 1911. Maybe the “donated” shoes looked like the ones in the picture. Were they still in style in 1912?
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Poor Grandma, she wants to look stylish and instead gets a pair of hand-me-down shoes.
I bet that her mother didn’t think that she was appropriately appreciative of the donated shoes—and gave her a hard time about it.
Who gave the shoes to Grandma? . . . were they her mother’s old shoes . . . her sister’s shoes. . . or someone else’s? In February, 1912 Grandma mentioned that her Aunt Annie, who was married to a doctor, gave her an old dress. Maybe Aunt Annie also handed down shoes.
17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Tuesday, August 6, 1912: Ma cut out a dress for me or rather a part of it. When it’s finished I suppose I’ll wear it to school.
Source: Ladies Home Journal (December, 1911)
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Grandma was going to begin her senior year at the end of August. I bet that she wanted to look really nice for this special year.
Did Grandma think that the dress her mother was making for her was stylish? . . .or was it just going to be a run-of-the-mill everyday dress? Did she select the pattern and fabric—or did her mother do it?
