Lemon Meringue Pie and Toilet Paper

Posted March 20, 2020

When I was quite young, about first-grade age, I remember our family having dessert every evening after supper.  It seemed one night we would have lemon meringue pie–my very favorite–next chocolate, then my father’s favorite, apple pie, and so on.  And, Jello, we had it with supper as part of a salad, also during the day.  Both parents put sugar in their coffees.  We stopped at the drugstore for ice cream after church.  Just before Christmas, 1947, when I returned home from a hospitalization for rheumatic fever, my grandparents brought me a fountain Coca-Cola from the drugstore.  It was the first I had ever had.   Overall, 1947-48 was a sweet, sweet time.  

However, the sweet time didn’t last.  By the early 1950s we had only the occasional pie, no Sunday ice cream, and eventually my parents switched to black coffee.  The transition was so slow I didn’t notice until long after, and the coronavirus shortages have helped complete the picture.  The “sweet time” came with the end of World War II rationing.  It was, I think, a celebration of victory, cultural survival, and the return to normalcy. 

During the war, tires, gasoline, oil, shoes, food, and many other items were rationed.  On April 27, 1942, sugar was the first consumer commodity rationed, and, in 1947, it was the last released.  By the end of 1947, I had turned six, and I would start school the next fall.  Thus, I was old enough to well-remember all those delicious pies, and now I know the reason we had those sweet treats.  War-time rationing was over, and my mother could buy all the sugar we could afford.   

Oh, and toilet paper.   I do remember running out of toilet tissue.  My mother showed me how to crumple and knead newspaper, making it soft enough to use.  She said that was what they did on the farm when she was a girl.  So, don’t worry folks, we have plenty of sugar, and we can handle this run on toilet paper!

And finally, pleas pray for, encourage, and support all of our service workers: grocers, hospital staff, first responders, sanitation workers, and many, many more. The are on the front lines of this pandemic. Let’s be kind to everyone, we’re all in this together.

[Aline says I need to explain why it says age 22 on my ration book. The reason: Since I had rheumatic fever, my family was allowed to consider me as an adult for rationing. Don’t know why they chose 22, perhaps they were anticipating my graduation from college!]