Bloomsburg democrat. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1867-1869, 1868-05-20

then be readily taken. The men and th
boys perched on barrels or the counters
either swing their feet and gossip, or swim
their feet and:spit. If it is winter, they bud
die mp to the dull box-stove, and polish th
long pipe with their hard palms ss COOL
as il they we're salsmsnders. They Or
slowed in unseen corners, too-the younl
fellows in particular they work owe
colorless, but sometimes rank, jokes in hal
whispers, and snicker in nasal unison owe
their old condolences about the girls. Th'
small boys drink in what falls, grinninl
bashfully while the larger ones laugh the!
are taking their early lessons faithfully ant
well.
OF winter evenings, the stove, crammet
with seasoned sticks, roared like any me
nagerie lion. NJ January winds without
can drown its growing sound. The loung
ers are gathered in great open circle, each
with hand erect for screen. There it il
the affairs Of q nation are sifed; there
each town sovereign closes and grapple.
with his dissenting neighbor, and finds biz
own personal niche among those occupied BY
the local worthless. The minister's last ser.
mon comes up for analysis at this rustic
round table; when the astonishing fact il
revealed that they are al not less profound
theologians than marvellous masters ol
State craft and civil polity.
To the store flock the farmers, in earnest
with their spring work, after seeds and ma
nurcs and agricultural implements. Boys
run there on errands for their mothers,
their sisters, and themselves. Thrifty house.
wives drive up before the door at an early
forenoon hour in the summer time, and go
in to make barter of eggs, and cheese, and
stocking yarn, for cotton cloth, or calico, Or
new shoes with proper ''power" to squeak
in them. The girls flock, with red bushes
burning on their cheeks, to see if anything
lies over for them in the mail, or to exchange
a few words with the sleek haired clerk, or
to finger for the twentieth time the limited
stock Of bareges, prints and muslin delaines
which he ever stands ready to spread about
the counter.
You will sec whole carivan Of old fam.
lily cows about the premises, some with bob
tails and some with switch, holding down
their heads and browsing away the hours
as if they had cropped poppy.heads, instead
Of green clover, for their Summer morning
rcpast. And elderly females are visible,
too, climbing friskily into and out Of their
open wagons, the days successful barter
giving them the nerve required to keep them
from falling.
As politicians, the men who gather stated.
ly at the country store strain the limits Of
common comprehension. On city rostrums
it is thought the political notorieties solnc-
times give start to the public pulse; but
at the store, the work is personal md strik-
ing and thorough beyond example. They
make it their grand point here to corner o
man; after which operation it is thought he
is not worth putting forth much strength
upon. 1t is held to be the coronal feature
of argumentative skill and power, to get an
opponent "where he can't get away" And
so it is, according to Socrates himself, who
had an awful teasing way Of putting ques-
tions-or agreeably to Father Aristotle, who
led by the nose the rest Of the dialecticians
Of his day, and impressed his system on all
the schools Of Europe after him. To ''ar-
que the point" is esteemed one Of the di.
vine rights Of man and no government or
authority shall dare to take it out Of bis
hands.