The Smithsonian units the scene for this Christmas card despatched in 1933, just a few years into the Nice Depression. They write:
Regardless of the glum economic situation, the Pinero family used a brown paper bag to fashion an inexpensive holiday greeting card. They penned a intelligent rhyme and added some appealing line drawings of Mother, Dad, and the children with the message: “Oh, effectively—despite all of it—right here’s a Merry Christmas from the Pineros.” On December 19, 1933, they mailed it from Chicago to associates in Massachusetts, utilizing a one-and-a-half-cent stamp. For a minimal outlay of money, they have been capable of keep up a correspondence with associates and comment on their lowered circumstances with wit and humor.
This hand-lettered poem is a delightful examinationple of sunshine verse, a whimsical type of poetry intended to entertain or amuse, even when deal withing a serious subject in a humorous manner. Within the poem, the Pineros suggest that that they had struggled economically for a while, however now, as a result of continuing Depression, others shared their financial plight, which enabled them to be extra open and maydid about their situation.
Like many families, the Pineros probably had a number of payments for necessities including hire, groceries, utilities, milk, and ice. As a result of not each family had electric refrigeration in 1933, many relied on regular deliveries of ice to maintain their perishin a position meals chilly. These payments for milk and ice have been sepaprice; they weren’t a part of the grocery account. Native dairies supplied milk and other products on a daily foundation. Each the Ice Man and the Milk Man would cometh, so long as they have been paid!
It’s a historical case of when much less is certainly extra…
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