Poem

Advertising poem from 1859

NOTICE:
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
American Heritage Magazine

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e-mail received 3/3/2005

Hello,
I recently found the poem by J. W. Renoud on your site. J.W. Renoud was John Warren Renoud, who was my great, great grandfather's first cousin. He was born in New Rochelle, New York to John Renoud and Mary Secord.

He was a grocer, who lived in Norwalk, CT and who eventually moved to Wilton, CT where he and his son became the postmaster at Cannon Crossing Station, They rented and eventually purchased the store for Aatron Reed.

John Warren Renoud also had oyster beds right in the Norwalk harbor and sold them to one of the Hoyts who also lived in the area. He is buried on Rt #7 , in Wilton, Ct. His daughter, Sarah Renoud, married one of the grandsons of the Gilbert family of Redding, Ct who were the first manufacturers of screenwire in the U.S.. The factory is still there!

Jon Arnow
*****
Source: http://www.foodreference.com