Sometimes this was done a little self-consciously, as in the case of  a trade card for the Trenton Cracker Company, that manufactured The Stapler Cracker.  The message side of the card read:

You may pluck the Man from out of the Moon       Or Tear the azure from the skies, But you can’t find CRACKERS better than our’s,       Or catch us asking a price that’s high. POOR POETS, BUT GOOD BAKERS.

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         The picture side of the card showed a ragamuffin piping a tune and pleading “Oh Give Us the Stapler Cracker, Trenton.”

         Some trade card advertisements took the guise of children’s entertainment.  In addition to the puzzles (“how many animals can you find in this picture?], rhymed stories for children  appeared to offer mothers and their children a little diversion, while at the same time slipping in the commercial message.   The good mother attending to her children with an innocent little fable worked to seduce and persuade both  generations.  To this end, familiar poetry was sometimes adapted by use of inserted lines or  punned references to the product. 

The Queen of Hearts              She made some Tarts             all on a Summer’s Day;             The Knave of Hearts             He stole those Tarts             And with them ran Away             Because they were baked with             Ceresota Flour.

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            Fairbanks Lard used this technique in a long series of trade cards advertising lard.  In one, the pig dressed as a sailor walks on the beach in sight of a sailing ship and quotes,

She walks the waters like a thing of life,             And seems to dare the elements ot strife,             With all hands active, both on deck and yard,             Happy because they have Fairbank’s pure Lard.                                     (Byron, Corsair.)

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            History of one sort or another was apparently a favored approach. At its simplest, references to famous people or events appealed to patriotic feelings:   St. Charles Cream, a canned milk product,  showed the American army cooking in the field, and noted that

The brave Soldier Boy,                Far from home and mother,             Swears by St. Charles Cream                Claims there is no other.

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           Some poem-advertisements offered “lessons” in history.  Peninsular Stoves put out a little booklet that purported to trace cookery through the millennia.  Beginning with biblical themes, it progressed through pre-historical scenes to Egyptian stoves, colonial fireplaces, and finally the company’s own cast-iron cookstoves.  Each period was described in a stanza and illustrated by simple images of appropriate kitchen technology, concluding

Thus through the long ages                         Advancement was slow             While kings and their pages                         Ate charcoal or dough,             And both were contented                         With second class loaves             Until man invented                         Peninsular Stoves.

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            In a similar way,  Merrell Soule Company, the makers of  None Such Mince Meat, printed a 12-page booklet entitled History of a Mince Pie (no date), in which a clever cook is determined to save time and eliminate the drudgery of mince meat preparation.  Excerpting from the long story:

            We learn that her None Such purchase is put to good use.  We see how she constructs and bakes the pie and entertains her employer’s young children all the while.  The entire family is delighted, and the youngsters of this clearly privileged family continue to specify this product when dining out.

This is a scene which shows full well             That content and plenty are here:             The children are happy and delight to tell             Of feasts enjoyed through the year.                         Now the pie is prepared as the picture shows             That all are anxious to try,             Was made by the Cook who fully knows,             The best’s “NONE SUCH” Mince Pie.

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            This kind of ad is most interesting, as it is difficult to be sure just who was meant to read it.  The family of the story is clearly wealthy, implying that people of stature and taste (who could afford to buy anything and to hire a good cook)  would prefer the product, and thereby offer the authority of success.  It is also entirely possible that the promotion  was aimed at the hired cook herself, as she was the clever protagonist in this little story, and had controlled the  purchasing power in that she did the marketing.  But either way, it was most certainly offered as children’s entertainment, to judge by the many anecdotes involving them,  the simple discourse and jingoistic style.

 Hires Root Beer gave the history (?) of its own product in five stanzas, making a temperance claim at the same time:

From a copy of the Ledger baby’s soldier hat was made             Mother when she made it noticed in the paper well displayed             Able words that told the story of the worth of HIRES BEER             “Ah” said she, I’ll write and let them send a package of it here.”             When it came she and her household had a jolly lot of fun             Getting it all made and bottled, and when that was safely done             How delightful was the drinking of the aromatic draught             Ice kept in the pitchers clinking as the wholesome drink they quaffed.              They had plenty for the neighbors, all of them both rich and poor             Luckily they sent a bottle to a little country store             Kept there by a poor old woman, who the flavor liked so well             That she promptly bought a dozen and made the whole lot up to sell.              Everybody came to buy it till she couldn’t get it made             Half so fast as she could sell it, and to meet the lively trade             She engaged more hands to help her and she still had such success            That she strives with want no longer, but lives HIRES BEER to bless.             HIRES BEER may be dear reader, something you have yet to try             If so, then a single package for a quarter you should buy             Make it up and drink it freely, and you never need to fear             That it will intoxicate you- ‘tis the PROHIBITION BEER.

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            This success story had to carry some weight, fitting as it did the popular dream.  However, that an old woman accomplished the economic goal almost makes it believable, as women in that era were not supposed to participate in the work place.  

Among my favorites are the before and after ads in which you are cautioned on the use or non-use of a product.  These often required that you fold down a flap to change both the setting and the faces: 

They were a newly wedded pair,             And he was rich and she was fair,             Their house was beautiful to see,             The home of ease and luxury.              But bad cooked food and cold rooms, soon             Will chill the warmest honeymoon,             From which remarks, no doubt, you’ll guess,             Their stoves were not a great success.             You turn the page and change the scene:             All now is as it should have been—             Their food is cooked just to the “T,”             The temperature the right degree.              A happier pair cannot be found.             Though you should search the country round,             The “Acorn” Stove and Heater soon             Makes life one constant honeymoon.

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 Another in this genre quotes an authoritative “doctor:”

The Wise Doctor’s Recipe             ‘Tis bad cooked Meals, the Doctor said,             That most the germ of Sickness spread.,             From this source indigestion, pain             Dyspepsia wan, with all its train             Of horrors comes, and earthly care             Becomes a burden hard to bear.              “But” said the Doctor with a smile, (And with a pen he wrote the while)             “’Twill quickly end your misery             If you will take this recipe             Your meals will all be well cooked for             You’ll have the CHAMPION MONITOR.”

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         And his prescription was:  Rx: Buy the Champion Monitor.  Dr. Wiseman.

             Another: 

Every lady in the land             Now has a Polish at her hand,             And thinks it better than a bar,             More quickly used, much better far.             Easy, clean, bright of shine,             Lovely, she says,             In saving time.             None was ever seen like             ENAMELINE.

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