Show A FRONTIER GENERAL STORE fright sights to HA ile 1 in an emporium in a sparsely ady settled country the store is an important and unique feature of froh frontier tier life bays a man who liaa been moseying mos eying around a good deal in lit the theowest th west ewest A few months ago I 1 came across a rather typical one in new mexico it was an ordinary adobe structure and was kept by a it man named jim bogart jinya as sure that hla his store was situated right in the heart ot of what was to ba be the future great metropolis of new now mexico but butchen when I 1 was there lie had things pre pretty ty much to himself his ilia patrons pal rons were H ere ran ranch h men af ft whom yere ivere forty or fifty miles in lles distant jini til xoa a liuio di like that count jim had bad a most miscellaneous assort ident of goods shoes jerked meata meats a few bolts of cloth DO no end of saddles Bad dies a little soap map nails canned fruit cowboy hats of every grade guns ammunition and by the way AY of W ornament ament a couple of alleged indian scalps there were neither counters counter nor shelves in the store owing to the of lumber and so everything was spread promiscuously on the floor when a auld bild lie be pu appeared jim cheerfully ud him to hunt hurit around till he found what te he t e aheu till was done something liko like the following dib logue ensued buyer picking up an article from the floor how much for this jim jim aning glancing ln ing at it oh bout five dollars I 1 guess buyer that rather steep jim throwing it back on the floor lh lebbe but you dont have ha e to take it you can go somewhere Bome where else buyer but there is nowhere now here else jim well then I 1 reckon its cheap at five dollars itt it buyer guess youre right id like to take it but I 1 ba have 0 no money jim take it anyway I 1 dont want to lose your trade of course jim Is an influential man in the community though there la Is no community near him and as he has literally as well as figuratively got la in on the ground floor I 1 have no doubt that some of these days ho he will be an eminent citizen of the tile future state of new mexico it is almost marvelous how soon such a rude frontier store develops into a microcosm of the most advanced civilization and for that reason it is the best possible place in which to study the progress of a pioneer community A couple of years ago I 1 came across a store in montana similar to that of jim bogart A month ago I 1 visited the same store and found it the principal business house in a thriving and progressive town with a largo large assortment of pianos organs standard books and fine dry goods thus rapidly Is civilization swallowing up the old picturesque life of the frontier and one of these days there will be no more tang in the far west than in the effete east 11 new ica york tribune |