~THE OLD
COUNRTY STORE~
Papa stepped carefully when he left the henhouse. It was
a dangerous maneuver to carry a basket of eggs in each hand while
walking down an icy path. One slip and he would create a greater
crash than a drop in the stock market, for "egg money" as Mamma called
it, was her trading currency in the country store.
After each trip Papa made from the henhouse Mamma sorted
the eggs according to size and color. Brown eggs were traded for a
better price than white. Cracked, stained, and pullet eggs were stored
in the cellar to be used for the family table. The best eggs were
wiped clean and packed into square wooden crates, each holding twelve
dozen. While packing eggs into the little yellowed cardboard dividers
inside the egg crates, Mamma made mental notes of her grocery needs,
estimated the yardage required for our summer dresses, and listed a
variety of seeds for her spring garden. Shoe strings, carpet tacks,
liniment, and an array of household items were added to her list. She
never forgot cigars to support Papa's Sunday smoking habit. Trading
eggs for commodities was big business for Mamma, and she managed her
limited resources well.
John A. Friedel's General Store
The heart of every settlement was that wonderful establishment,
the country store. Its forefather, the trading post, would be considered
old-fashioned by comparison when one counted the marvelous supply of goods on counters and
shelves, in boxes, bins and barrels. The store in many instances housed the local post
office where patrons picked up letters and newspapers.
On trading day, after arriving in town, Papa tied the team
of horses to the hitching post in front of the store, and helped us
alight from the wagon. The egg cases were carried to the rear of the
store where they were counted and credited to Mamma's account.
In the meantime Naomi and I raced up and down the wooden sidewalk
in front of the store and stopped to study the window display before
entering. The mingled aroma of coffee, herring, smoke and kerosene
filled our nostrils when we entered the store. It permeated every fiber
of clothing and clung to it long after the ride home in the milk
wagon or buggy. It was fun to stand on tiptoe and peek into the small
windows of the mailboxes in the Post Office located just inside the front
door. We were thrilled when we saw a picture postcard in one of the
little pigeonholes.
Mamma gave her list to the grocer who copied each item
on his sales slip and proceeded to fill her order. This gave Mamma
ample time to wander around the store to select her dry goods. The
grocer dipped into his boxes and barrels for the items on the list he
placed them into small brown paper bags, weighed them on his scale
and then tied each bag securely with a length of white string which
trailed from a gadget called "the iron string ball-holder."
The dry goods shelves featured an attractive line of
yard goods, among them shirting, calico, cotton flannel and cheese
cloth. In this area women selected miscellaneous items, such as ribbon,
lace, needles, glass headed pins and thread. Mamma paged through
Butterick patterns books and found her their favorite style paper
pattern before selecting the yard goods needed to make our Easter
dresses. The enterprising merchant included hatpins, fancy combs,
belt buckles and other items to complete the ladies' costumes, adding
new items as they came into style.
The men sat in Captain's chairs around the old pot-bellied
stove, its warmth permeating the circle. The stove that was connected
to the brick chimney by a long black pipe suspended from the ceiling
with wire. Beside each chair stood that staid old fixture, the spittoon.
Papa joined the men, propped his feet on the rail of the stove, tipped
his chair back and listened as the men discussed crops, prices, weather,
the Saturday night dinners and dances at the local hotel, a fair
sprinkling of politics, religion, and, of course, a few choice tidbits
of local gossip.
Some of the men had filled their pipes from the "free
box" of tobacco that stood on one end of the counter, and then selected
their favorite from the row of tins containing Prince Albert, Nigger
Hair, Sir Walter Raleigh and others, or picked up a plug of Mail Pouch or
Plow Boy chewing tobacco or a round tin of Copenhagen snuff.
Before leaving for the blacksmith shop to have his team
of horses shod, Papa sauntered over to the counter where a round of
well aged cheese was covered with a glass dome. The generous merchant
lifted a long, sharp knife and offered Papa a tasty sample. He then
cut a wedge from the yellow interior of the round and added it to
Mamma's order. Beside the cheese stood a box of dried fish and a wooden
pail of herring. Lengths of sausage dangled over the counter amid
curls of sticky flypaper used to trap insects.
We became explorers as we investigated every nook and
cranny of the country store. Dry goods were usually located on one
side of the building. Part of the long wooden counters were glass
covered and displayed jewelry, fans, ladies gloves, and unmentionables.
We pressed our noses up to the glass case, gazed at the contents
and dreamed of things we would like to have someday when Mamma's hens
would start laying more eggs.
The grocery section was located on the other side of the
store. A row of little wooden bins attached to the front of the counter
were filled with onion sets, sorghum seed, walnuts, potatoes, bar
soap, sponges, and peanuts in the shell. When Mamma wasn't looking
we amused ourselves by running our fingers over and through the contents
of the bins. Walking up and down in front of the counters we read the
labels of merchandise on the shelves.
There were Mother's Oats, with a
free piece of chinaware enclosed, Argo Starch, Eagle Lye and Putnam
Dyes. A neat row of glass containers held tempting varieties of rice,
tapioca, dried apricots and split peas. Smaller jars held every kind
of spice imaginable. A neat row of glass containers held tempting
varieties of bulk foodstuff, such as prunes, tapioca, split peas, dried
apricots and navy beans. Smaller jars held every imaginable kind of
spice and seasoning.
The most tempting of all were the cookies displayed in a
tiered wooden rack. Inside the glass-covered boxes were Mary Anns,
Twilights and jelly filled cookies, ginger snaps animal crackers,
oyster crackers, and in a larger container the great favorite, graham
crackers. Sparkling glass jars with ground glass sealed tops were
arranged directly behind the cash register, where the storekeeper stood
when he filled orders. These containers held a wonderful variety of
sweets - horehound, lemon drops, rock candy, licorice sticks and anise
candies, and at Christmas time, the round sucking candies with a picture
in the center of each piece.
The scent of apples - Russets, Greenings, Northern Spy,
Snow apples and Tallman Sweets, greeted customers when they opened
the door of the storeroom. Here they selected bags if sugar and flour, i.e., Sarasota, Gold Medal, Pillsbury’s Best and Big Joe. Mamma saved
the empty flour sacks and used them for dishtowels after bleaching
them with Eagle Lye and soaking in homemade soap. Some were used for
making underwear and many a child was seen with the faint imprint of
the flour brand on the seat of her drawers.
Tea was kept in snug tin boxes with hinged covers. A large
red hand cranked coffee grinder enabled customers to select a grind
from a choice of Peaberry, McLaughlin (XXX), Quezal or Trifuno coffee.
A titillating aroma emanated from this wonderful machine as it crushed
the firm round beans of coffee.
In one area of the store a colorful array of bottle held
patent medicines, tonics and salves to ease a variety of aches and
pains. These included Sloan's Liniment, Lydia Pinkham's Compound, Blue
Jay corn plasters, and Wilson's toothache medicine promised to rid
people of their ailments.
At the foot of the long flight of stairs to the damp,
dark cellar was a corridor of wooden barrels filled with kerosene,
vinegar, pickles, sorghum, salt pork, frozen fish in winter and dried
fish year ‘round. Along with these the grocer kept a barrel of crumbly,
red cleaning compound the grocer sprinkled over his floor before sweeping
it.
The hardware section was located near the rear of the store.
It contained, among other items, milk pails and strainers, brooms,
shovels, hayforks, and axe handles. On a separate shelf you could
select lamp chimneys and wicks, lantern globes, Rockford socks, caps
and straw hats, and Oshkosh 'BGosh overalls.
When the grocer had filled the order and Mamma made all
her dry goods selections, we crowded up to the counter to see if she
had and "egg money" left over.After adding up the account and "settling"
with Mamma the storekeeper, as a token of appreciation for her patronage,
filled a small bag with peppermint candies, chocolate drops, or some
other candy , and tucked it into a corner of the egg case along with
the week"s supply of merchandise. Papa almost forgot the kerosene can
which had to be filled in the cellar using a hand-cranked pump,
mounted on top of the kerosene barrel. Without oil for our lamps and
lanterns we would have been counting our eggs by candlelight.
At the end of each year merchants usually presented
their customers with a calendar as an appreciative gesture. The colorful,
scenic or floral calendars were treasured items and graced the walls
of every home. After the passing of another year they were used to
paper the walls of the "little houses" in every back yard.
While recalling the quaint service rendered in the country
store in the early part of the Twentieth Century I realized it was
more glamorous than Macy's in New York, or Marshall Field's in Chicago.
Today's women who enjoy built-in maid service provided by supermarkets
today would find it hard to visualize the warmth and friendliness of
the country store. A purse filled with a checkbook and credit cards
could never equal the pleasure and delights of spending Mamma’s "egg
money" at our country store. How different was were the services rendered in the
"Days Of Yesteryear."
Featured Music: 
"Ain't What They Used To Be"
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