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Wednesday, November 1, 2017

1899 - Hurrah! Pumpkin Pie Poems

I didn't know the song that I sang in elementary school every Thanksgiving season was a poem by Lydia Maria Child.  
And I do not think we ever sang the last two verses.  
I would have remembered "Hurrah for the pumpkin pie" !  

Both poems were in Werner's Magazine: A Magazine of Expression in 1899.


A BOY'S THANKSGIVING. 
           By Lydia Maria Child.


OVER the river and through the wood
To grandfather's house we go;
The horse knows the way to carry the sleigh
Through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood!
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate,
We seem to go extremely slow;
It is so hard to wait!


Over the river and through the wood!
Now grandmother's cap I spy!

Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!





PUMPKIN PIE.

WHEN melancholy days come round and leaves get brown and red;
When corn is shocked, and when you add a blanket to your bed;
When apples, pared and quartered, are set in the sun to dry;
This is the time you smack your lips and think of pumpkin pie.

This pumpkin pie's a tempting dish to almost any fellow;
So sweet and tender, luscious (yum!) and then, withal, so yellow.
You stir up eggs and milk and spice and sugar, O my eye!
And then you add the pumpkin, and that makes the pumpkin pie.






1894 - Mystery of the Huntington Seed Co. Catalogs






When I looked at my first Huntington catalogs in the Biodiversity Heritage Library I got the impression they didn't like color!  Drab, or very conservatively colored, catalogs from 1895 through 1899 were so unexpected given the other seedsmen were reveling in chromoliths.

But, it turned out the Biodiversity Heritage Library simply had an incomplete selection.  The Smithsonian Institute had a jolly colorful one.  Here are a few covers and backs of catalogs.
I think I am doing this overview in lieu of having any information about the men who ran the business!

So, first the nice colorful Smithsonian catalog from 1894.  Following are many drab little poor relatives. 

What happened after 1894!!??





Here they come.  What a let down....

1895

No back cover.

1896

back


1896

I like this cover.  The page design gives it energy.

1897
This is fuddy-duddy, but a sprightly paper color.

Note the transition to Huntington & Page!  Mr. Page continues to be the secretary of the company.


1899

I looked to see if the building was still there, but no. 
There are a few that look remarkably like it down the street, but this building is gone.



Crazy perspective in this cut, but I am a sucker for any proudly presented building engraving.  Do you see how the horses are smaller than the men further away?

1900



1900
Oh, yuck.
 Better...