The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-15
VISIT TO THE HOME TOWN
AN OLD-TIMER REMINDED OF An
GENT INSTITUTIONS.
How the New Grocery Differs from
the One He Knew as a Boy-A
Law Office Like an Armory.

hood home the other day. after a long in
terval." said an old attorney in its vari-
Gus stages of development it is typical of
the dozen or more other towns within the
boundaries of the grand old Hoosier
State The discovery of natural gas and
the subsequent boom in manufacturing and
commerce have, of course. changed its gen.
eral aspect. but here and there is a semb-
lance of the past When l got off the train
TO the platform I found the inhabitants
about the station, a semi-residence dis
trict, still make garden in the back yards.
They still make butter on the back porch
and allow the ninety-day-old yellow-legged
fryers to chase grasshoppers in the front
yard. AS the train pulled out and left me l
stood looking at a group of mature hens in
the middle of the street headed by jaunty
old rooster who cooked his head one side
and wandered away from his harem across
the railroad track. He discovered choice
morsel and clucked loud as he picked at it.
The hens craned their necks and with
dropping tails flew in answer TO his call
When the first arrived on the spot the
rooster deliberately swallowed the morsel
himself
II walked up the street that led to the
public square through an archway of foil
age formed by the trees along the walk
had arrived at the frayed edge of the bust
ness district and was going by narrow
passage between two old three-story brick
buildings, when, with a rushing sound,
torrent of dirty red suds and water
streamed across the sidewalk into the gut
ter. 1 looked into the passage to see if
there were murderous doings in the back
yard. No; it was only a woman washing
some red medicated flannel underwear As
/ arrived at the public square the bell in
the courthouse tower doomed out two. 1t
was a hot afternoon and the usual activity
of that quarter was dormant. Wriggly heat
waves radiated from the cement walks and
brick streets. A sprinkling wagon went by,
spreading a thin sheet of water and leav-
ing a temporary refreshing smell behind it.
There was only one rig hitched TO the rack
around the courthouse yard-an old mud
bedaubed buggy, with side coverings up.
The fat horse had paroxysms of swishing
his tail, stamping his feet, trembling his
muscles on his TANKS and shoulders A big
woolly dog lying under the buggy. guarding
the whip and dust robe had his long red
tongue hanging from his mouth. as he
stopping to lick his chops or snap a fly.
LAS 1 passed one of the dry goods stores
a hot, stale smell of wool and dyestuffs is
sued forth, mixed with the odor of a
clothes basket full of cheap. pink toilet
soap in the entrance. The store was divest
of buyers. The young women clerks hung
over the counters and famed themselves
with boxlids. The proprietor and floor
walker stood on each side of the front door
hanging to the awning ropes and looking
out on the 1ifeless prospect Their usual
afternoon trade was home sitting in dark
ened rooms and loose wrappers reading the
latest romantic novels. I passed along to
the grocery on the corner Ii occupied the
site of an old one that I knew as a boy.
1t is being conducted by the sons of its
esta blisher and, like the town. has passed
through an evolution. The foreign and do
mestic fruit in the show window, the
shelves along the wall filed with canned
delicacies and bottled things. the marble
top meat counter. the tile-lined refrigerator
In the rear are all seen through plate-glass
windows
THE OLD-TIME GROCERY.
Quite a contrast to its predecessor that
l knew well-a little low wooden build
! ing with a second story where the proprie-
! tor and his family lived; a wooden shed or
| awning over the sidewalk supported by
square posts at the curb, covered with tin
from oyster cans to prevent the horses
from gnawing them and razing the struc-
ture TO the ground. The old grocery had q
/ mixed smell of wet sugar coal oil. wood
smoke. spices and a musty cellar They
|
old days. Everybody raised his own. In
front. on the sidewalk, was a wooden tray
filled with onion SETS another of bundles
OF sassafras bound with wire. On stick
nailed against the door jam was a horse
collar, few balls of candle wick some
punches of red peppers and a lot of dried
goldfish. strung in the form of a chain
The wind played with this string of cod
fish until il swung, futtered and glistenet
in the sunlight. A farmer coming alons
would pull out his Barlow knife, cut off {
| long silver and walk down the street chew
ing 1t, TO salt himself A churn barrel. will
ax-handles and brooms in it and coop full
| of peeping chickens completed the side
walk stock.
"At closing time, the grocery boy, afte
carrying all these things in would issu,
forth with some solid paneled shutters. ant
while he held them to the window, the pro
prietor would fasten them, by means o
thumbscrews. on the inside of the sash
There was an ornamental open scroll in TIL
top panel of these shutters in the form o
a star and crescent which admitted enough
light for one to grope around on Sunday
without falling in the brine of the pickle,
pigs feet tubs. Inside was a hogshead o
prunes paper sacks of -four, piled lik
bricks on the side of a we'll: glass lars
with japanned tin lids on the shelves. file,
with animal crackers. ginger snaps an,
peppermint stick candy. The cheese was il
a wire cage on the back of the counter
The small glass showcase up in front con
tanned cord or two of buttons, fame.
elastic, papers of rusty needles. a bundl
of standard writing paper box of yellow
envelopes. some dead flies and a few sheet
of perforated silvered cardboard. on on
of which a partly worked motto, don
in colored yarns, by the proprietor's daugh
ter She had worked as far as God Bles
Our got tired and thrown il into the case
In the rear was the stove-a huge rust,
affair Its legs were imbedded in shalIoy
box, filled with gravel, which served doubl,
as a fire-proofing measure and a spittoon
In winter the stove roared fiercely in de
fiance of the cold outside. and when som
one pushed the little double doors opel
with the toe of his boot and spits, Their
was a sizzing. frying noise followed by