The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1941-02-27
SAUK CENTRE HERALD, Sank Centre, MINI.

SAUK CE
| the Home School project and the armory addi-
ton. 1t has nearly exhausted the supply, and
other contemplated WPA projects in particular are
| slated, if at all, for the waiting list.
$3.50
Someone should invent device to enable one
to read a newspaper at full furl without firing the
arms
Add momentous decision. When you had penny
to spend and found yourself confronted with candy
| case magnitude Of which display challenged. :.
There much pointing and nose smudging on the
while the girl stood patiently behind The
triumphant moment when you chose stick of lie
orice, PEPPERMINT stick, wax bottle filled with
sweetish liquid. Triumph short-lived when the
penny gone the candy devoured, there were the
pangs Of regret Ones earliest lesson in econ
omy-rarely needed.
Business structure has taken some lengthy
strides in direction another in the years past
In the early days of this community the fabric
was woven with year long credit farmer bought
throughout the year without expanding cash, then
at seasons end, after threshng time he paid the bill
Storekeepers have told me that yearly accounts
often ran to fifteen hundred dollars Book work
was unceasing activity In those days Of more
difficult to town quantity buying the
order of the day. Not only the individual customer
but the shops themselves. Barreled apples by
the car, flour and sugar by the shipped
into these hamlets. Families took home the apples
by the BARREL the flour and sugar in several hun
dred pound lots. It happens today but infre
quently. It's mostly piecemeal buying. The shop
keepers with ready access through trucking and
daily shipping to markets, buy movable quantities.
With it has come decline in the credit traffic
and great boost in the cash sales volume daily
In most small towns today the percentage of
stores who do largely credit business has dwndled
steadily. 1t is not improbable that the element
of credit buying will dwindle Should
depression years continue, there is perhaps little
doubt of 1t.
We remember we'll our first brush with credit
buying. Our family had an account. Though as a
lad we had never been told not to try to buy
Dads account, it had never entered mind.
But one day we had craving for candy We
scarcely knew what account was but with us
more wise in the ways of the world, suggested
buy it on account. His explanation of the pro-
cedure entirely satisfactory He explained that
it was really nothing. You simply told the clerk
what you wanted and on your way out nonchalanty
flung over your shoulder charge it to Dad
IT sounded excellent since had no money. Getting
things for nothing for which other people had to
shell out hard smoleons seemed quite the thing.
We would investigate and did. With a resultant
TRADE at home about presumption. It accom-
plished this singular lesson. There is really
day for reckoning.
There is scarcely small town between Puget
Sound and Main that does not have it's town clock.
It's one of those expressions of the small town
that has survived through all the change. It's the
timepiece of its workaday world. :. You glance
habitually at its face. You note it's hands posi-
ton. But the place it takes in your workday
most weather, it does have its moment Of rest. We
remember when the Merchants Bank clock failed
couple of years ago. Scarcely has more consterna-
ton been shown up and down the street. Clerks
pranced hastily about the street. There prob
ably tardy shopkeepers during those days than
at any other period With its face serenely peerng
at all angles Of the business STEM it's the ctys pace
setter
There impressive thing at the entrain-
ment OF Regimenta Headquarterst Battery the other
night. The National Guard has put on its long
pants. few years ago that outfit here and in
most towns, was humorously dubbed "tin soldiers"
The term arose on any excuse. It's true those
outfits with only smattering Of drill through what
was believed only scant necessity, weren't the best
trained troops. Their sudden emergence full
fledged u S. soldiers, their leaving in the heavy of
darkness for full time training has changed the tenor
of this community and others in its regard. Ma
tional Guard. Full fledged nephews Of their
Uncle Sam!
Their leaving the other night put an awful dent
in the personnel of the Gashouse Gang The
gang, for information the group Of fellows
who habtually inhabited the station Archie Fau-
haber Archie was at once friend and almost foster
father to these fellows. His station became hang
out for them where they played hearts and pranks.
From the gang went Willard Rasmussen, Jim Scott,
Jim Rattle. Left are Archie, Junior vandesteeg,
Leon McCracken, the others. The other night
when the boys left for California the gang they left
behind them there.
ssss
We wonder If you've noted what's happened to
the weekend. In the first place the word itself
has undergone some radical changes by common
age. In many places now it has been combined
to make one word weekend" It's still gramati-
caly incorrect, but it's used. The strong popular
gains in "weekendng" Gtself new word coined in
the common Of the weekend) have brought 1t
about. The week end is actually defined the
end Of the week including probably both Friday
and Saturday. but not strictly speaking Sunday
which is the first day Of the week :. =. We have
altered it considerably In these smaller towns where
Saturday is healthy business day. it plays virtually
no part in the plans for most peoples weekend.
Thus almost entirely ones visits, ones short
tions, are known "weekends" though they may
be confined strictly to Sunday. In summer these
short day or two day jaunts to picnic to visit, to
fish, to take motor tour more popular than
actual lnnonr vacatinr