Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-04-29
THE COUNTRY sroRE.


Away from the cities the whole range
of lesser everyday wants turns for ful-
hllment to the country store. And so it
becomes a clustering point for all of VIII
lage life.
There is no limit to its possibilities. IF
Aunt Eunice wants any thing, from a
wash-tub to an ounce Of paregoric, she
knows where to ind it but when she
broke her only pair of spectacles, the
other day, she came to us in doubt.
You keep most everything. she
said hopefully
yes, know; but VIC don't sell spec
tacIes. People are so different, YOU see.
But there are pair or two about here
somewhere; if they viii do you anv
good"
These had come to US from some
auction or other, where were conereca-
, ted.the quaint and useless relics of many
a previous sale-relics that are still des-
tined. doubt not, for further kicks
adown the wales of time by auctioneers
yet unborn. l have them before me
now-stout-rimmed, cumbrous, brassy
staring owl-hke at me, as if from out
the deepening twilight of the past; the
glasses so scratched and dim with use
and age that it is easy to imagine that
within their misty lenses fingers the re-
membrance of many vanished scene.
and that they feebly attempt, as I place
them aStT1de of my nose, to twist the IA
niliar things at which I look into an
antique picture which shall be in keep
ing with their own venerable aspect.
But they are spectacles. A rare spee-
tacle, too, was the good woman's S face as
she held them afar, that sha might the
better inspect thea with her crippled
eyes.
Goodness Dill you ever! How
could people ever wear such things as
these | hope you don't ever expect to
But thus happily were the resources of
our establishment vindicated though
really less ready we than that other shon-
keeper OF these parts, who laid a wager
ne could MI any single demand, and
trll1lPhantiy produced a secondhand
pulpit which was called for.
such enterprlsing spirits are not mar
rowed by any study of the known la1Ue
of supply and demand Within +be
precincts over which have been called
to exercise a temporary charge are
gathered many things that have Iong
failed to excite the appreciation Of our
plain country folks-patent medicines
cacy and Ilimitablc range of cure
polishing powders, enough to burnish
the world until it should shine like
another sun; preparations, and contri-
Vances needing second inventor to dis
cover use for them or to tell their eff
ciency-add which are here awaiting in
dingy and fy-specked state that bs1nv
millennial time which shall find for Eli
inexplicable and slighted things a f1Ii
and legitimate use
The country store-keeper is in some
sort a public character. He finds him
self used in a dozen different wavs-as
banker, oracle, referee, newspaper. df-
rectory, intelligence men, etc.-aimost
before he is aware. Gossip and small
talk he should retail with the same grace
full alacrity with which he dis6enses
maecaboy and peppermint drops. Thor
oughly democratic as an institution
the store recognizes no caste, and its
door swings freely open to all who come.
whatever be their erTands. An inviting
haunt for all the idle ones among us, its
hreside on stormy or inpTacticable days
draws together its little circle, that is
ever shifting its character and its sub
JSS JSSts as aifterent persons come and 90.
1z9'l'e7r 5 Magazine fer Nay