Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1907-09-05
The Country Store.

that now. and better appreciated. II was
much of the life of every rural hamlet and
district. 1t was aad to certain extent is
yet the best school for every countryman
who has reached the age OF maturity.
Our common schools and academies and
colleges teach nothing as to government,
and it. they do. it but reaches minds too
young 10 comprehend. II is the conflict
OF mind which teaches government, and
upon the counter and around the stove Of
the country store it is best taught. There
Is always some one there who is in con
tact with public men and public docu
ments, who is posted He gives out his
knowledge; it is questioned by bright but
generous minds, and the truth is reached
| at last. This leads others to initiate the
best informed men. and the result is the
education of all the surroundings OF the
country store in the art of government.
The boys are there ready to walk or ride
home with their fathers or uncles alter a
well spent evening. They thus acquired
an ambition not dreamed of in any school
and AS they grow older they apply it and
become certainly useful citizens, and tre-
quently men of distinction.
Daniel Webster extolled the country
store as the best school known to New
England There he learned to think, and
these thoughts led to the finest language
known to our history, and to the most
patriotic. Clay gathered his greatness,
not in forums but at the country store
SO did Henry Wilson. the cobber of Mas
sachusetts. Alexander Stevens OF Georgia.
loved the country store, visited all in his
State, there learned the many idioms
peculiar to the South. and this knowledge
was the foundation OF his great good sense
and his masterful popularity. Lincoln
found his first impression in the country
store, and when he rode his lawyers Cir
cults these were his tavorites stopping
places, and here he would swap his quaint
stories with those from the counter. All
ed to the country store, first for iniorma
ton, next for political support.
1t is a pity that the power of the
country store was ever impaired. Ii was
the best educator, and is yet. You learn
nothing of government and its practical
application in the Churches, nothing
whatever. The minister who touches
upon, puts his foot in it because his edu.
cation has been upon wholly different
lines. The constitution learned by minds
too youthful in the schools. are compre
hended only by contact and discussion
with more mature and broader minds.
The colleges are mainly given to other
subjects. Schools and colleges aid, but
do not ripen.
Half a century ago the country store
was to its community the best lyceum.
1t is yet in rural districts far removed
from great cities, and we trust its power
may return to all ofthe counties in Penn
sylvania. That great power was first
assailed by Local Option legislation pass
ed in 1870. Many of the rural districts
voted for Local Option; none of the cities.
What was the result? Men who saw in
this drastic legislation an infringement on
their personal liberty, transferred their
custom from country and hamlet to cities.
There they could buy al, the whiskey
needed, and cover it in baskets filled with
groceries and dry goods.
This was blow to every country store.
1t led to lessened receipts, to correspond.
ing loss ofstock and supplies. Prior to
1870 everything was kept in the country
store, from pins to silk, from pills to pere-
goric. The demand for dry goods ceased.
as it did for many things. The Local
Option Of 1870, the same as that proposed
last year was repealed 10y an indignant
people after three years, and the country
store did its part in the repeal. Thele
were few taverns or brewers to aid.
Now invention comes to the aid of the
CouhtiE stoie duu tHe oiutidS1lOhei
country ins, an institution, which was
really public benefit, The automobile
is more than fad; it has come to stay.
1t seeks the country roadside and patron
ICES the country store and the country
Inn. 1t traverses great distances.
A blow against the country store was
attempted in the Pennsylvania Legisla-
ture in 1903 The Bureau of Pharmacy
which had taxed for its own use all drug.
gists, tried to subject the country store to
examination and fees. Cooper OF Della
ware county attacked the bill in a ten
minutes speech filed with exposures, and
after winters lobbying it was defeated