Show GRASSROOTS Nostalgic Recollections of Old Rural General Stores By Wright A. A Patterson YESTERDAY I visited a store as asI asI I do whenever opportunity offers offers offers of of- fers that carried me back to boyhood boyhood boy boy- hood days in an Iowa village in every d detail it was the old type general general general gen gen- eral store in which I spent my pennies in those ago boyhood days And the store keeper they keeper they were storekeepers not merchants were prepared to supply every human human human hu hu- hu- hu man need n ed from the cradle to the t f grave Somewhere In their stock they dd did not always know Just where were diapers soothing syrup paregoric colic cure There were high chairs and trundle beds On one shelf were patent medicines guaranteed guaranteed guaran guaran- teed to cure every ill of man or animal to which flesh is heir belr In Ina Inn a n shed at the back was kerosene kerosene kerosene kero kero- sene axle grease and paints for home or barn Included in that t stock were coffins In which the people of the community would be buried burled Veritably every human hu hu- exi X- X man need from the cradle to tn t the grave The stock of that Iowa general 5 store in which I. I I as a small boy was v specially Interested was its stock of penny candies I still recall r how patiently that store keeper 1 served me when I went to spend my one or two pennies How many manyI I would get of at this for tor one cent and how many of that I listened to it tt all carefully and l considered coni con can i each item and in the end went back to the stick of striped peppermint candy from that I could r P get more hours and minutes of at pleasure Measure than from anything else he ic could offer Yesterday I 1 headed beaded for the counter on which Ih the candy was displayed There were the same varieties including inc ud ng ing the striped peppermint sticks but bul instead of one or two pennies a astick astick stick slick they had gone up to jive five and ten len cents The storekeeper gave gate me the same patient courteous attention I had received as itS a II boy Beside me stood a small girl looking hungrily at the array of candies but evidently not having the five and ten cents with which to buy I handed my purchase to her After a hurried thank you she rushed gleefully off oft to share her treat with other youngsters My love for striped peppermint stick candy has faded with advancing years What an institution those general stores of generations ago were They have been succeeded in many places by the more mor mores modern department department department depart depart- ment store But the department stores lack much that made the old general store attractive The The lack the disorder the dust and smells They are divided into organized departments departments departments de de- with no searching for items you may want This takes away much of the mystery and pleasure of buying at the general store of yesteryear f The store I visited yesterday and do so whenever opportunity offers is the only one that I know still op op- op- op It wa was part If f an old western west ern ghost town purchased by the owner of a big resta rant located a few miles out of at Los Angeles and removed to his restaurant grounds for the edification of at his patrons The general store wa the only business business business busi busi- ness still operating in that ghost town but it was included in the purchase purchase purchase pur pur- chase and the storekeeper was transplanted to tho th new location Without him that store would lose much of its interest You can get a areal areal areal real thrill out of at having him sell you things especially if you are of of at I the older generation that knew general general gen gen- eral store stores in your home town Just what source they have from tram which to maintain the th-s th stock it offers offers offers of of- fers I do not know The storekeeper told me he had been able to find tind replacements for all aU Items though there was was no one source from which they came He Hc had hopes of keeping his stock going Indefinitely It would be a sad blow to that restaurant and its two to ten thousand daily patrons if it he did not succeed It is the only one of its kind of at the thousands thousands thousands thou thou- sands that existed a bit more than half halt a century ago 1 It will not be but It would seem seema a just rc retribution if it MacArthur were privileged to tell President Truman to move out of the White WhiteHouse House Indirectly he might do that by his active support of the Republican lican Hcan presidential candidate His influence influence influence in in- fluence could be responsible for many votes I a aTo To prohibit the supplying of Information Information information In In- formation to the people is the act of a dictator |