Please to put a nickel, please to put a dime. How petitions trickle in at Christmas time!

McGinley’s couplet satirizes the seasonal surge of charitable appeals. The childlike, singsong phrasing (“Please to put…”) mimics the tone of donation solicitations—simple, repetitive, and designed to disarm resistance—while the verb “trickle” undercuts the implied urgency by suggesting a steady, almost inevitable drip of requests. The rhyme and rhythm make the complaint sound light, but the point is sharp: at Christmas, public sentiment is mobilized and monetized, and the would‑be donor is besieged by small asks that add up. The line captures the tension between genuine generosity and fatigue at being constantly petitioned.