TIP #529 - WILL YOU GO TO THE STORE FOR ME HONEY? Now: "Honey, we're out of VCR tapes, will you run down to the mall for me?" "Oh dear, it's raining and the video store is a mile away; the traffic will be heavy." "But dear, they have a big sale going on and I don't want to miss out on it." "OK, but I don't have any cash on me." "Put it on the credit card." Hubby departs the house, gets into his air conditioned car and makes the mile drive to the mall. There he is greeted with dozens of mega-marts with selections ranging from clothing, sporting goods, fast food shops, hardware stores, entertainment centers, barbers and beauty shops, groceries of all types from all over the world. He makes his way to the video shops, grabs a few tapes, tosses out his credit card, grabs his purchase and tries to find where he left his car in the huge parking lots. Barely a half an hour passes before the husband enters the front door of the modern home and plops down in front of the plasma television, sighing, about the trip really taking it out of him. Then: "Honey, we need some more sugar, will you ride down to the mercantile for me?" "Oh dear, it's raining and I have to get Mollie out of the barn, get the wagon out, hitch her up and go twenty miles along those rutted paths; no one should be out on a day like this." "But dear, Arnold just got a new shipment in today from Louisville and I don't want all the sugar to be gone before you get there. He won't get any more until next month. "Ok, but I don't have any cash on me.". "Put it on credit dear, Arnold knows we're good for it when the crops come in." The MERCANTILE. Does that stir up something in us today? We've never been there, but our mind can create the sights and sounds of the old-time mercantile based primarily on the old western movies or television shows, or from tourist stops replicating the old-time stores. . It can be so real to us that we can almost smell the aromas, a blend of spices, foodstuffs, oil, kerosene, pickle barrels and mentally wend our way through the store. The mercantile came in all sizes and shapes but were normally a wooden building - small or large - with wooden floors, makeshift wooden counters on which an old ledger book lay open. The owner barely eked out a living as so many of his customers could not pay cash. They ran accounts with him, paying sometimes pennies on their bills; and he went many times without customers at all. His supplies had to be brought in by wagon from the "big towns" - likely Louisville or Nashville. The towns in Kentucky that were along a major waterway didn't have the difficulties of the smaller towns who had to send wagons once a month or so over poorly maintained roads, the list of products they needed tucked away in their wallets. If the owner could not go, he would have to pay drivers to make the long trip of many miles in weather of all kinds. He wanted to be sure to get the right things or they would sit on his shelf unsold. When the goods arrived back at the mercantile, unloading and putting out neatly on the shelves and counters he had painstakingly built. A fireplace was usually at one end of the store and likely the town gentlemen found this their favorite meeting place; there they could sit in bad weather, swapping tales of battles in which they had fought, how the crops were doing, who had eloped with who; talking the day away as the customers wended their way past them to see what Arnold had brought back that day. The supplies were limited by the size of the building and the financial means of the owner. Many customers raised their own vegetables, crops and livestock; but some of the "city folk" needed foodstuffs. I have been transcribing an old mercantile account book from the 1840's and have found it to be extremely interesting, both in goods sold and prices charged, plus who did the shopping. I'm sorry ladies, but it was normally the men-folk who did the shopping; guess it was considered a "man thing". Women did come in, but they weren't the shoppers in the family. I think the following will give you a little idea of some of the goods that one mercantile owner in south central Kentucky stocked and what some of them were - terms change and a lot of the below will be alien to our vocabulary. Almanacs, alum, apron checks (material used on the back of quilts and other goods, a heavier cloth), awl blades, bakers (portable oven), Bead cords, bed castors, bed chords (the ropes used as the foundation - the original bed springs), bed ticking (used to make mattress covers), bees wax (for candles and polishes), blacking (stove or shoe polish to impart a black color), bobinett (cotton netting), bolts of cloth, brimsone (sulfur), Buckram, Cambric (cotton fabric), canvas, capiras, casinette (cloth of fine wool or wool and silk), castor oil, chamber pots (what a delight to see a husband buying chamber pots - those little pots that were slid under the bed for the relief of those who had to use the bathroom), copperas (used as a die and in the tanning process), coat binding, curry combs, darning needles, drab fringe, drawing knives, drilling (fabric, used to pack drill bits when drilling for water or oil), edging, gimblets, gimpe (thread used in making lace), grammar books, spelling books, New Testaments, shoes of several varieties, indigo (used as ink or in dying clothes), Irish linen, janes (jeans material), lincy (linen and wool), logwood (used for dying), madder (same), saws of every variety, osnaburg (rough cloth), padding, a paper of needles, paste boards, plates, writing paper, files of every variety, razor strops, buttons, laths for building, saddle tacks, sail cloth, salaratus (baking soda), satin, shirting, knives, rasps, silica, whiting, spriggs (rails), stirrup and horse supplies, stockings, muslin, tow linen, threads, whetstones. Other goods that could be carried would include: lead and steel, blankets, boots, buckets, candle wicks, caps, gloves, handkerchiefs, dishes, pots and pans, silverware, screws, hammers, razors, tar, hose, suspenders, flax seeds, feathers (many orders for these), thimbles, yarn, wagon boxes, roses, shovels, bacon, coffee, salt, pepper, sugar, tea, butcher knives, spoons, wallpaper, chickens, eggs, cows, chalk, chisels, window glass, knobs, door locks, nails, blasting powder, powder kegs, sandpaper, shears and slate and many more. Prices in the mid 1840's would be those we would love today if we didn't take into account the limited amount of money they had and inflation over the years. Below are just a few samples: Apples per lb. .02 Bar iron per lb. .05 Butcher knife .15 Chamber pot .50 Coffee per lb. .12 ½ cents Eggs per dozen .05 Flannel per yd. .31 Hat, wool 1.00 Knives & forks 1.50 Looking glass 1.50 Package of needles .12 ½ cents Peaches per lb. 1.00 Pocket knife .25 Pork .02 ½ cents a pound Razor 1.00 Ribbon per yard .05 Shoes, leather 1.00 Sugar per lb .08 Tea per lb 1.00 I just had a thought! Are you busy this afternoon? Why not join me at the mercantile? You can come casual, in your work clothes. Don't be in a hurry to leave. There's an old rocking chair in the back just for you and the fire is roaring. A couple of your neighbors are already there; they're having a lively discussion on the politics of the day and the drought that's causing a lot of farmers to lose all their crops. Miss Jones is coming in to buy some material for her new dress; you know there's a big dancing party coming up at the Smith's and she needs something really gorgeous. Arnold brought some fancy pickles back to see if his customers would like them; has them in a big barrel off to the left. Bill, the miller is on his way in to get some milling saws and Robert is trying to work out a barn raising party for his new tobacco barn. I know it's raining outside, but it's sure toasty by the fire; come on in and sit a spell! (c) Copyright 24 Feb 2005, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. Colonel Sandi Gorin SCKY Links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html Sandi's Puzzlers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html Gorin Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/