16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, April 14, 1911: I spent most of my time indoors today
for the weather was decidedly dreary and ugly. Had a time hiding
pop corn this afternoon from Jimmie and Mother. Her middle-aged
granddaughter’s comments 100 years later: A hundred years ago on
this date it would have been Good Friday. I wonder if the family
was making any preparations for Easter. The April 1, 1911 issue
of Ladies Home Journal provided suggestions for dyeing Easter
eggs: Easter Egg Dye A harmless dye for Easter eggs is made by
boiling the eggs with onion skins. Put the eggs on to boil in
cold water, with enough onion skins to cover them. Boil till the
eggs are hard. They will come out in pretty shades of brown and
red. Polish them with a soft flannel cloth. Two cupfuls of onion
skins will color eight or ten eggs. I used white eggs and the
outer skins from yellow onions to test these directions. The
eggs were easy to color–and the dyed eggs are a pretty reddish-
brown. I’m