I decided to post a weekly journal (again!) Feel free to join me. Just post a journal entry on Monday summarizing the previous week. Or make your journal a photo a day. Whatever you like. If you are a family history researcher, you know it is good to remember to document your own life! Link your journal entry in the comments of my post so I’ll be sure to read it and so will anyone else who sees it. If more people join, maybe I’ll learn how to do a “linky”party.
Week of August 29-September 4, 2022
I think I’ll do things a bit differently this week. More pictures, less text. It’s the change in the weather that had me taking photos this week. The extremely hot temperatures are over (although unfortunately hitting the western states) and we have had rain. Measurable. More than once. What a difference it has made! I can feel fall in the air – at least in the mornings. Some photos are from walks in the neighborhood and some from our yard.
Leaves from a crepe myrtle fell onto a ground cover below, making it look as though the ground cover is in bloom. 8/312022
On the same walk. My daughter tells me this is datural (Jimsonweed)
Woke up to a new cilantro plant half-eaten. I couldn’t see the culprit at first and wondered if it had been a bunny, but then I found 6 cilantro-colored caterpillars. 9/2/2022
Yesterday I took several pics of the wonderful blooms that are now not few, but plentiful.
The crepe myrtle in the backyard suddenly full of blooms 9/4/2022
Passion flower is now blooming abundantly. They are so beautiful, but I consider this an invasive species now and am frequently upset by it. 9/4/2022
Beauty berry in the front. Deer leave them alone. We might try to make a small batch of jelly. 9/4/2022
Alas, not everything is beautiful.
A front bed full of weeds and dead stuff. I started working on it, but it got too hot. 9/4/2022
I have taken so many walks at 8:30 or 9 pm this summer and it was still so hot and nearly unbearable – well, sometimes I just turned around and went back inside because it was unbearable. Last night was wonderful. A breeze. Temp in the 80s. You can’t appreciate 85 with a breeze unless you’ve tried to walk after sunset when it is 95, still, and feels like 100.
Husband and I watched the movie Elvis. T and I started watching The Crown.
Finished reading Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Most of the members of the church book group thought the book was mediocre. I will say I learned some things from it and it gave me more to think about. My opinion was not as negative as some, but I didn’t feel that the author made the case for using the term “mediocre” as her title. I think most people wanted a bit more at the conclusion. Finished audiobook The Fatal Pursuit
Finished adding my encouraging sentences to 50 Get Out the Vote postcards and picked up 50 more.
Our pastor has been using the following as the benediction for a while. I finally googled it so I’d know all the words. And so it will be my benediction as well:
Life is short. We don’t have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk this way with us. So, be swift to love and make haste to be kind. ~ Henri-Frederic Amiel
I shared a photo of my grandmother Eveline Coates’ high school graduating class in Mystic, Iowa a few weeks (now months!) ago. Along with the photo and her diploma, a couple of other mementos were saved. One is the program for the Junior-Senior Banquet in honor of the graduating Seniors. It was interesting to see how World War I seemed to be the overarching theme of the festivities. I decided to take a deeper look at what her life may have been like during the 1917-1918 school year. There was a lot going on, a war and the beginning of an influenza pandemic to name the two biggies. The list of related posts is getting long, so I’ll link them at the bottom.
Today I’ll share a few bits of ephemera that remain from Eveline’s senior year in high school.
A picture of the high school
Mystic High School, Mystic, Iowa
Eveline’s report card
From her report card, we can glean the following information:
Eveline attended Mystic Public Schools. She was in Grade 12 during the school year 1917-1918. No room number was provided, just Room H. S. (High School). Does this mean that all high school students were in the same room? I don’t think so? The high school surely housed a number of classrooms. The principal of the high school was Nevah O. Prior. Eveline was absent 7 1/2 days during the fall semester, presumably when she had smallpox, and 2 days during the last period of the spring semester. Eveline’s absences were excused. Eveline was never tardy for school. Eveline received high marks for conduct – in the high 90s during the fall and just a little less (95) during the spring. A grade of 95-100 was Excellent. 85-95 was Good. Eveline earned grades in the 90s in all of her classes. She studied American Literature and Physics throughout the year. She studied American History and Physiology during the fall semester. During the spring semester, she studied Civics, and Economics. Both of her parents signed her report card.
Another paper saved is this two-fold invitation from the Junior class. The size is about 5×7 inches. The paper is pink and the ink is green. Decorative notches have been cut into the paper.
On May 10, 1918, a Junior-Senior Reception was held at the Masonic Hall in Mystic. It was the program for the reception that prompted me to begin this series.
I’m not sure what this hand-drawn card is. It is the size of a calling card. Perhaps it marked Eveline’s place at the table for the reception.
Also saved was the graduation invitation, held together with green and pink ribbons. An eagle atop a shield decorated with stars and stripes can be seen through a cut out in the invitation cover. I believe it is hand colored.
The inside provided details of the commencement exercises.
The second page of the graduation invitation lists all of the senior class events leading up to and including commencement.
The last page provides information about the class officers, colors, motto, flower, and a list of the graduates. Tucked inside is a graduation name card for Eveline.
I hope to identify some of the people mentioned in the reception program and Eveline’s class photo. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be. It may be like trying to identify the unknown people in the prompt photo below.
Gather around and bring the dogs while you enjoy posts by others participating in Sepia Saturday.
I shared a photo of my grandmother Eveline Coates’ high school graduating class in Mystic, Iowa a few weeks (now months!) ago. Along with the photo and her diploma, a couple of other mementos were saved. One is the program for the Junior-Senior Banquet in honor of the graduating Seniors. It was interesting to see how World War I seemed to be the overarching theme of the festivities. I decided to take a deeper look at what her life may have been like during the 1917-1918 school year. There was a lot going on, a war and the beginning of an influenza pandemic to name the two biggies. The list of related posts is getting long, so I’ll link them at the bottom.
Shortly after the United States entered World War I, the U. S. Food Administration was formed, with an unpaid Herbert Hoover acting as the administrator. Hoover believed that if he volunteered his time, he would be better able to convince Americans to voluntarily join the three-pronged effort to produce, preserve, and conserve food. As I mentioned in my previous post, these educational and persuasive efforts were primarily directed at women.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, IA 1917 May 01
Centerville Daily Ipwegian and Citizen, Centerville, IA 1917 Jun 11
Women were guilted (I know that isn’t really a verb) and “invited to co-operate” to win the war in their kitchens.
Increase Production
(1917) Uncle Sam says – garden to cut food costs Ask the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., for a free bulletin on gardening – it’s food for thought / / A. Hoen & Co., Baltimore. United States, 1917. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/00653180/.
Families were encouraged to maintain a “war garden” to increase the available food supply locally. This would save on transportation costs to get food to families that could better be used for transport of soldiers or food to feed solders and our allies. In the words of today, “eat local.” The Centerville paper ran a gardening column 2-3 times a week, provided by the federal government. The topics varied from pest control to growing particular fruits or vegetables. Here are some sample headers from the Centerville newspapers:
1917 sample headline of gardening articles19181918
Any idle land or vacant lot was to be used for gardening. The Burlington Railroad offered right-of-way for this purpose.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa 6 April 1918
I didn’t find anything particular to Mystic, but the county seat of Centerville formed a War Garden organization and local businesses also got on board.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa 1918 Mar 23
Since no vacant lots were to remain idle, I guess kids around the nation lost their playing fields.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Ceterville, Iowa 1918 April 11
Preserve
Now that your war garden was producing well, it was time to preserve the food you grew. Do not waste any food! Americans were told that this would also relieve the canning industry so that products that could go to soldiers would not be diverted for domestic use. I had never thought about when home canning became popular, but the war was a great motivator to increase home canning. Newly organized home demonstration agents were assigned to each county to teach canning and drying methods to preserve food.
Semi Weekly Iowegian, Centerville, Iowa 1917 Jun 01
A canning demonstration was held in Mystic the morning of July 7th.
In addition to the canning demonstrations, there were frequent articles about canning prepared by the federal government for publication. These included instructions for making vinegar, a variety of pickled produce, tomato sauce, ketchup, and other food stuffs, but my favorites would have been the fruit butters. I had never heard of fruit pastes until I read the article below. Maybe fruit paste is similar to modern fruit roll-ups?
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, IA 1917 Sep 18
I don’t know the extent that food preservation was encouraged at school or if kid’s clubs or after-school programs encouraged the youth of Mystic to join the effort to preserve food. Perhaps they heard about a Girl Scout who won the first canning award in Washington.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, IA 1917 Oct 15
German propaganda was reported to be hampering the efforts of the food campaign, particularly in rural areas with high numbers of immigrants. I wonder if this happened in Mystic, a small town with a large immigrant population.
Conserve
Again, the federal government supplied articles for publishing. Below are a few headlines. Each included instructions or recipes.
Another tool of the food campaign encouraged families, hotels, and restaurants to plan meals around Meatless Tuesdays and Wheatless Wednesdays.
And, of course, it was important to conserve sugar.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen 1917 Nov 13
A local cartoon implied that Appanoose County was doing its part to conserve food.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen 1917 Jul 16
Another bit of propaganda aimed at women was a series of letters purported to be written by Frances, a woman in Washington, D. C., to her sister Edith, in Michigan. The letters all had the tag line “The Soldier-Woman.”
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa 1917 Nov 28
What did this all mean for Eveline?
Well, of course, I don’t really know. My grandmother Eveline always had a very large garden and canned lots and lots of vegetables for the winter. I assume that this was a practice learned in her early years. Her family was subject to rations of sugar and flour, shortages, and the pressure to change dietary and cooking habits. One thought that came to mind while doing this research: Eveline was a young mother during the Depression and my mother was a Depression baby. My mother was a “saver” as were many people of that generation – a result of being raised during that time of lack. But this made me think that, not only did Eveline live through the Depression, but through this rather intense campaign to save and never waste food – a double whammy of influence that was likely passed on to her children.
I found this interesting/amusing pamphlet about war gardens if you have further interest in the subject. It is full of cartoon and poems. The War Garden Guyed.
And just because, I’ll end with this poem that was printed in Eveline’s local newspaper.
Centerville Daily Iowegian and Citizen, Centerville, Iowa 1918 Jan 29
Once again, this is my very late contribution to Sepia Saturday – or in my case, Sepia Tuesday! Please visit the more timely entries in response to the prompt photo below.
