Maysville weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1864-1866, 1864-09-08
The Country Store.

LII llaSOo tLo slOEo Is GuG
prominent feature. It is usually onnsa cor
ner, built of wood, and may be known by
the dry goods boxes ostentatiously placed
on the front step, denoting that the pro-
prietor has heavy transactions with i'm
porters and jobbers. Those boxes are cap
ital loafng-places on pleasant summer
evenings, and many are the profound discus
sions on local and national topics. politics,
religion, &C., that ha We been carried on by
the occupants of the boX-seats. Along the
side of the store are exhibited some plows,
barrel of salt, and few punches of
shingles.
A broad cellar door at the side affords in
gress to the cellar for barrels of pork, sugar,
molasses, &c., an operation of which is
greatly facilitated by m cans of tackle as
the boys call it, descending from beam
which protrudes from the roof. The junior
clerk and the village boys amuse themselves
by swinging on this tackle when the pro-
pretor has gone to the city with load of
eggs to ship away.
1t is called the corner store to distinguish
it from the grocery of inferior pretensions
across the street. When the proprietor, by
strict attention to business frugality and
economy, gets little 'forehanded;' he moves
the wooden store back and builds magnif
cent structure of red brick, has a new sign
painted, and from that time on the store is
known as the 'br:ck store.'
The old wooded store offords room for
merchandise of various kinds, including
flour, fish, feathers, paper rags and old iron.
Dicker' is the extensively praoticed at the
country store. Farmers wives bring in
butter and eggs, and exchange them for
calico and groceries. Frugal housewives
preserve their feathers and paper rags, (which
serve the purpose OF money at the store
The boys are the principal suppliers of old
iron. They confscate all superanuated
stove plates or retired handirons they may
find in or about the house, and exchange
them at the store for powder and shot in
squirrel time or powder without shot when
the Fourth of July is near at hand. Wick
ed little boys sell iron at the front door, aud
after it has been conveyed into the store
house they slip around to the back door and
steal it, to sell over again, thereby giving
cheerful impetus to trade and commerce.
In every properly conducted store there is
a department devoted to the sale of candy, |
raisins, figs, nuts, &c., which is the great
attraction for the little country boy, whose |
mother permits him to accompany her to
the village for the purpose of doing little
trading The cunning store-keeper knows
that little candy lavshed on the boy will
prove good investment, as the heart OF |
mother is quickest reached thro' her child,
and he accordingly sweetens up little
Johnny, graduating his liberallty according
to the nnm Der of acres unincum bered farm |
ing land which father possesses, and the
consequent value of the family custom. We
remember that the sticks of gratuitous candy |
which the storekeeper thrust into our
juvenile pockets were not only seldom, but
exceedingly abbreviated. Our paternal acre
Ill i G,o,E 70 Il Ia or
keeper to an extent.
The village children believe that every
thing in the way of comfort or luxury is kept
at the store, and they accordingly look upon |
the storekeeper's children as the most favor
ed mortals on earth. The latter may have |
candy and sweetmeats just when they want |
them. They wear store clothes every day. !
The storekeeper's girl has the finest and |
most richly dressed doll in the neighbor-
hood, aud the storekeeper's boy has the
hanGsomest sled and the best pair of skates,
of any boy for miles around. How many a
country boy has wished that his father was
a storekeeper
Frequently the proprietor of the country
store is a person of considerable importance
i'm mis- neighborhood. We have known
cases where he possessed the confidence of
his neighborhoods to such an extent that
they have elected him Town Clerkh
If by honesty industry aud attention to
business, he has elevated himself from the
humble position of clerk to the dignity and
importance of sole proprietor of the brick
store, the old settlers still call him Arthur
if that is his given Lame, the same they
did when as a boy be weighed out sugar for
them, and filled their molasses jugs, two
aud six
A visit to the simple village in which one
was raised after an absence of years, during
which the boy has become man, dissipates
many early impressions. The church looms
not half so grandly; the village green which
to your boyiSh Imagination resembled
bouudess prairie, on which you aud your
schoolmates used to chase the imaginary
buffalo, has dwindled to the proportions of a
barren and scanty goose pasture, and the
brick store on the corner, which once ap
peared more magnificent than Stewards does
now, looks dingy and old, and the hand of
time has apparently hit it a severe rap on
the ridgeboard, chucking it about half
story into the ground.
I