Last month when I was a guest in Muriel's home in Mount Vernon, Washington, she had a collection of old newspapers there that were her father's. I could not resist paging through them!
Sedro-Woolley is a small town near Mount Vernon (which, by the by, was named for the Virginia home of George Washington.... way out west, 3000 miles away...go figure). Reading the paper from that town for 29 Jun 1939, the grocery ad headline proclaimed: "Everything you need for the 4th of July!" And then the items were posted with their prices:
Zee napkins, 5 cents; pickles, 2-6oz jars, 15 cents; marshmallows, #1 bag, 10 cents; peanut butter, #1 1/2 jar, 21 cents; Hormel Spam, 25 cents; cantaloupe, 3 for 25 cents; tomatoes, #3 for 25 cents; lemons, 12 for 23 cents; #10 of new potatoes, 17 cents; cucumbers, each 5 cents; watermelon, 2 1/2 cents per pound; and PorknBeans, 2-#1 cans, 9 cents.
Certainly the prices made me laugh, but then I looked again at what the items were.......... what do you buy for your July 4th BBQing and feasting? Not "Hormel Spam," I'd bet!
A inspirational note of trivia from my hostess, Muriel: "Stick a geranium in your hat and smile; pain in life is inevitable but misery is optional." I agree, do you?
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