Norwich bulletin., 1919-12-05

5 z --a .-.e tayst
 about what we now call Coffee A, fancy. Overhead, hanging from the
 ceiling in netted bags, were real sug-
 ar-loaves, chunks of really white
 sugar which, when some one demand
 ed it for company occasions, was,
 sawn off and had to be broken into
 Jumps at home with a hammer. But
 there were no canned goods, either in
 meats. or vegetables.
 Under the other counter were few
 drawers from which, upon rare de- imand, the storekeeper would reluctant Y lift out bolts of lustrous black silk dress goods to make a state dress for mother or a Christmas present for grandma. But these say the light very, very seldom. Mother had to save up her butter and eggs and cheese nancy for some years and count it over carefully a good many ] times, before she even yentured to ask ! a sight of these treasures. And then lit was a matter of weeks if not months Ebefore she could make up her mind exactly which piece to take a pattern | off ;
 l Down cellar were the two noIasses I barrels, one of blaek-stray and one for, table use; the hogsheads of New 1 England rum; the barrels of salt pork; l the barrels of sperm, oil for lamps; of | linseed, neatsfoot etc.
 There was also an up-stairs. I, as a | boy, never penetrated that region of
 mysteries. I think they kept rubbers
 up there, but, beyond those, have not
 even a glimmering of suspicion.
 Does this hasty reminiscence sug- 1 gest anything to any of the older ones | a mo tyx-n
 stores in the country districts were ex- actly alike. but weren't they all on about the lines have sketched?
 We'll, having to wait for something at this same store, one day last week, | I had leisure to make a sort of in ventory of it's present contents. Be- 1 lieve me, it was somewhat different l from the picture my memory held up of the same store sixty years ago. There was the showcase about as | usual. But it was now filled with candy There were a score of varieties, chocolates and almond bars, and marshmaIlows and gum-d drops and the Lord knows what else. But not a stick of the fashioned eandyj not I a '.Tackson ball." not a hoarhound. | There were just three shelves with cloth on them. A piece or two of apron | glnSham, some or calico; one Of 1 calico;. ore of muslin; one Of cheese clcth one of scrim; one of lining cam | brio; and one of that gaudily figured {! stuff -cretonne (which some women i think is fine for window draping. That was the extent of the stores resourc- l es in cloth. The other shelves on i that side were stocked full of ready
 made shirts and drawers and stock 1 ings and overalls and pantaloons and 1 gloves and shoes and caps and sweat CTS, and the like
 But it was the other stack oi ] shelves, on the other side of the store
 which brought into sharpest contrast
 the difference between the Long Ago
 and the Later On. This was the groc-
 cry side, with it's assortment of things 1 to eat. With the simple exception o1
 a factory made cheese in. its frame l there wasn't a single article of food | on all those shelves which wasn't ir
 cans or jars or cartons. The shelving
 reached from the floor 10 the ceiling And every inch of every individua shelf was filled with these package l goods. There were meats and fisl and vegetables in endless variety, al in cans and all cooked at the fac
 tory; syrups and molasses also in
 cans; forty seven kinds of cereals and
 bran and pancake four in cartons;