From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
As soon as we came home yesterday afternoon Grandfather called me into his room again. This time he told me to sit in the big chair at his desk and then he gave me a big sheet of paper and told me to write my name on the bottom of it. I did. Then he tore the paper up and said “Hilda you didn’t read what was on the page of paper. Never sign your name to anything that you haven’t read very, very carefully.” Then he wrote on another piece of paper and gave it to me. He asked me to tell him what was on it. I told him that it said, “I Hilda Claire Goldberg, am borrowing five dollars from my Grandfather, Jacob Levy on this day, the 22 day of December 1912 and that it is to be paid back by December 22, 1914. Interest payments of one penny a month are to be charged for this business transaction.” I didn’t know what interest meant nor the word transaction so he explained it all to me and so now I do. I will have to pay back twenty four cents for borrowing the five dollars and interest doesn’t mean that it is interesting or like our teachers are always telling us to have an interest in our work. Borrowing money is just like buying it and we must pay to borrow it and he asked me if I did agree to what he wrote on the paper. So I said that I did and signed my name and then he gave me five shiny silver dollars. Now I have enough money for presents for everybody.
This morning Alma and I baked millions of cookies, such pretty ones, all shaped like Christmas trees, and we put green frosting on them so they looked quite real. Tomorrow we are going to go downtown and buy Christmas cans to put them into and every single person who comes to see us on Christmas day will get one. Even people we didn’t invite. Tante Esther will get one too and I shall give Uncle Felix the pen wiper I was going to give Helen Violet and I will buy Helen Violet a bag of graham crackers and I can send Tom and Jerry a big bag of dog biscuits and tie it up with a red ribbon and a green ribbon so each can have a bow on his collar. Uncle Milton said that he wouldn’t be able to take them up to the ranch where they live but after Christmas we will be able to visit them and so he gave their address.