From the June 18, 1932, issue

MUDDY MISSISSIPPI YIELDS PEARLS THAT RIVAL ORIENT’S

Pearls we usually picture as coming up from limpid greenish tropical sea depths, in the fingers (or perhaps the mouth) of a swimming brown-skinned native. It seems a bit of a comedown to think of pearls coming out of the prosaic waters of the muddy Mississippi–and as a mere adjunct of the button industry, at that.