Advertising poem from 1859
Step up ye gallant fair and brave!
Step up, Torn, Jake and Kate,
Unto my store in Norwalk town,
In Main Street, number eight!
In Main street, number eight, good folks
Things very cheap are sold,
To fat and lean, to rich and poor,
And to the young and old.
It is the cheap Cash Store, my friends:
At J. W. Renoud's, please call,
And find things sold at reason's fee,
To one, to ten, to all!
Yes, find things sold at reason's fee,
Bread, butter, candles, cheese,
Salt, Onions, Crackers, Coffee, Brooms,
And choicest, best of Teas!
Sugar and Allspice, Flour and Pork,
And matches, not the kind
The young folks often, often make,
So pleasing to the mind;
Theirs will light up their future hopes
And gratify desire!
While mine on a cold winter's day,
Will soon light up a fire.
There's Yeast, Molasses, Eggs & Ham
Not Ham, of olden days,
Who lived with Noah in the ark,
And sang sweet sacred lays!
No, this is Ham that fills us up,
And gives us strength to work,
And flog the French, the Spanish and
The Russian and the Turk.
I've fine Codfish, Mackerel & Starch,
Tobacco, choicest brand,
And Ginger, Pepper, Chocolate,
As good as in the land,
And Blue and Oats, & Colgate's Starch,
Made from good Indian Corn
And fit for Shirts of any man,
Of any woman born.
But oh to name all things I keep
Would puzzle even Mars,
But I must not forget to state
I sell the best Segars.
And come my friends my goods are cheap,
True, true, what I relate,
All kinds of Groceries you'll find
In Main Street, number eight!
J.W. RENOUD.
Norwalk, August 16th, 1859