Calico Production in the Nineteenth Century U.S.

This article about how calico printing also comes from the San Francisco Bulletin of October 7, 1861.

Merry Christmas

From The Central Record of Lancaster, Kentucky on December 25, 1900:

Christmas of the Rich and Poor

"We have an idea that Christmases as they are celebrated in homes of great wealth must be ideal," writes Edward Bok in a plea for a simpler life--a simpler celebration of Christmas--in the December Ladies' Home Journal.  "Yet often, as the actual fact, no more lonesome Christmas days are spent anywhere than in these homes of plenty.  Riches on Christmas are often like sweet bells out of tune.  Nothing was simpler than the first Christmas Day, and its strongest appeal to our natures, although we do not always know it, is because it was so simple.  Nothing is so fatal to our deepest and truest enjoyment as the realization that we can have whatever we will simply for the wishing or asking.  All value is lost then.  It is a hard truth for those who have little to believe that the greatest happiness of life is with them: that it is not with those who have abundance.  The more we have the less we actually enjoy it.  There is a law of compensation that comes in there.  The lives of those who have abundance are vastly more complicated than are the lives of those who have little.  We are wont to say, 'Oh, well, I'd like to try once having all the money I wanted.'  Thousands have said the same thing only to have their wish come true, and to realize that happiness lay not along the way they thought.  It is strange how the poor envy the greater and fuller happiness of those who have less.  The women of simplest means is the happiest woman on earth if she only knew it.  She is happiest because her life is simplest, and, therefore, truest,"

Bible Printing in the Confederate States

The following short article shows not only how little book printing was done in the South prior to the war, it also shows how slow news was getting out to the West.  This article was printed in October, referencing a July issue of a Tennessee paper.  For reference, the Pony Express operated from 1860 to 1861, and actually shut down in late October of 1861.

From the San Francisco Bulletin on October 7, 1861: 

Short of Bibles.--The Tennessee Baptist of July 13th contains a call for help to supply the Southern army with Bibles and Testaments.  It says:  The startling fact comes to light that there is not a set of stereotype plates for printing even the new Testament in the whole South; nor a set of plates for the Bible.  This fully illustrates how entirely the South has depended upon the North.  The Baptist calls for subscribers to an edition of the Testament, to be issued at the rate of $20 a hundred.  In New York the same Testament can be bought for $6 a hundred.

World War II U.S. Ration Books One Through Four

Making an exception to my pre-1922 only rule, here are some high quality scans of U.S. World War II ration books.  I forgot to schedule a Thanksgiving post, so after the rabid consumerism many Americans display on Black Friday weekend (and throughout the Christmas shopping season), I think this topic is, in a way, highly relevant to the holidays.  As it says on many of the below pages:

"If you don't need it, don't buy it."

If only.

Rationing for the War in the United States began in 1942 and ended in 1946.   Ration Book One was issued in May 1942, Book Two in January 1943, Book Three in October of 1943, and Book Four towards the end of 1943.

These books were not the only rationing coupons issued by the U.S. government.  For more information and pictures about WWII rationing in the United States, please see this wonderful web page.

The below ration books belonged to Maude Elizabeth Haas Williams, of whom I shared a photograph in an earlier post.  As you can see from some of the ration books, she lists her age as 35.  Maude's husband Clarence did not serve in the war due to his age (52 according to his Book Two).  In late 1942, Clarence and Maude had a son.  Did you know they issued ration books to children, including infants? Their son John has one at age 2 months.

All four books are represented here for Maude as well as the cover of Book Two for her son John.  Stamps from Book One and Book Three are shown (the other two are empty).  Also included is a clipping from a newspaper of the Book Four Rationing Calendar.  This is the only item I have transcribed below.  

Click to enlarge.