New-York tribune., 1921-12-11

~ brlefiy noted, sudden flare of fre
~ wiped out "The Oldest Department
Store in the United States"
There were no reporters present to describe
the clang of engines through the affrighted
streets the silhouetted assault of the fremen,
the crash of cargoed floor on floor, or 'sthe
milling throng that blocked traffic so COM
petely il was necessary to call out the re-
serves In fact there was nothing of the
sort to describe. For the oldest department
store stood modestly beside a weed-fringed
road on the edge of the ancient and honorable
but somewhat sleepy town of Duxbury.
Geographically speaking, Duxbury is the
knot that forms the biceps on the bent-up arm
Of Cape Cod. And the oldest store had all
the flavor of its locality. For almost hun
dred years it bore aloft sign surcharced
With what was once the little ports pride o.
commercial glory and ocean adventure:
IN. FORD & SONS,
English and West India Goods
Some of the buildings (for there was
group Of five, more or less, grown together)
we're older than the sign The establishment
vas originally tailor shop, maintained doubt
less to outfit the Duxbury shipmasters, who
were even then threading the Seven Seas The
fords took it over in 1926 and until the day
it burned it remained in the hands of the
same family.
From the beginning it justified its name as
department store In the days of its prime
one could start with the drygoods in the older
end Of the shop and purchase away right
through the departments devoted to buttons,
home furnishings, crockery, kitchenware, hard
ware candy, seeds, tools and implements,
groceries, rum and grains.
Rum as d department store staple NAV
5tartle the jaundiced eye of prohibition, but
Shen N. Ford & Sons was fourishing rum was
household word-nay, more, a household
! average. And, in view of the price, any Gus
nmer who failed to carry away little brown
Jug was overlooking bet. According to an
eatry IN the books of 1926, Joseph Simmons
@ss the fortunate fellow who purchased the
following bill of goods:
gallons Of rnolasses s................s1 .s1.a5
pounds Of sugar. Observation-Disclosures. 1.61
pounds OF tea. ss.....s..s.......s 1.12
quise OF paper. .o.....e.es..s..... 20
pairs Snoes' .98
papers of needles. s..~..e.s..,,... Ia
pound of tobacco. .............. .O5
gallon New England rum. ....... .3S
'0aephs sugar may have cost him a bit
a''e than it does us. But oh, his shoes and
lS rum' And if his cultivated taste had con-
sscended to West Indian rum instead of the
's" England brand he could have had it for
% cents.
ous merchandise was not the only thing
'vius store dealt in. The place was simply
saia'ed with memories and reminders of the
a''' VI course, the Pilgrims had long passed
= nut one could step out of the door and in
= ~ minutes walk to the grave of Myles Stand
~ me great captain. And Brewster, the
xa, s,aea' the spiritual leader; Winslow, the
.v'0mat' and John and Priscilla Alden the
~ parents OF American romance are living
es IN Duxbury to-day. Indeed if they
"o' sufficiently enriched tradition one
ass sa' look out across the water to Gurnet
aa' ~ lnere are those who say that nearly
n nOasahd Years ago (in 1908, to be exact)
H. s'"a'u' the Viking, came sailing his dragon
~. 'nefe' tie Landed and was slain by the
h.,: h,e.ings' Somewhere on Gurnet Head, in the
ss's' OF historians of the obscure. the viking
snes still lie. ~ ''''s
s0rd's' however, was product of the towns
~. a as shipping center. The looming fig
: w.. 8 'iat day were Daniel Webster and Ezra
gpos.. gs'' OF King Caesar" as he was regally
,a,..1,e ,, 'he most successful shipmaster Of his
!, .as'on' Both were close friends, and both.
porS- aappens were frequent purchasers at
Dpxl
Als,alaty energence century ago as the
I a;,s MN. 0i America is chapter of romance
.0"n tmn..' on their own resources in a wild
ses -, ~nere travelling by land was danger
d H. e. tedious, the men of Duxbury turned
eon,t..ss. ssa and began at an early date the
s.ion of boats and small vessels It
stx.,s s's'eai that the more adventuresome
ts4 sa'i IN them, and in this way their
sas We're pushed to the outposts of civili-