Low Down Articles
Echoes from the Past
Article 89 of 111
This article first appeared in the "Echoes from the Past" column of the The Low Down to Hull and Back News.
Reprinted with permission. Search complete list of Low Down Articles.
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The General Store 150 Years Ago
In an age when there were no such things as boutiques, shopping mall or marts, there was early in the 19th century, in nearly every village or hamlet, between Hull and Maniwaki, and on the roads to the east and to the west of the main highway; general stores.
Many of you will be acquainted with these old fashioned stores on display at places like Upper Canada Village. However, for those who have not had the experience it may not go amiss for me to share with the latter a word-picture of the kind of stores which served so well your grandparents and likely your great grandparents.
As one enters the dimly lighted store one is immediately conscious of a peculiar odour which pervades the place, not unpleasant, sometimes of fish, and at other times coffee, tea and assorted spices, depending upon what container has recently been opened, all of which is mixed with the tobacco smoke and snuff of the elderly male gathering, some of them seated on the captains' chairs thoughtfully provided by the store owner. Others have found perches on upturned carts, kegs, barrels, and whatever else is available and stout enough to bear them. They are here of course for the gossip and to pass away their hours of retirement.
The building, in addition to serving as the general store, must spare a corner for the local postal service not that most of the inhabitants anticipate a piece of incoming mail more than once or twice a year. On end of the store-wide counter sits a homemade rack divided into pigeon holes, more than half of which are empty. This is the Post Office. If one examines the mail a little more closely it is noted that the wrappers or envelopes have no postage stamps. This is simply because postage stamps indicating that the piece of mail has been prepaid for delivery have not yet been invented.
Now, what does the store-keeper have in stock for the convenience of his customers? In general the shelves and drawers contain such items which the farmer, his wife and family could not grow or make on their own property. Perhaps it should be said that the average man and woman of these days were "inventors" by necessity.
THE BARTERING ERA
Many an item, unprocurable at the store was fashioned by the family to fill specific needs. Additionally, as cash was hard to come by, the specialties of gifted people were bartered at the store for needed supplies. These specialties became part of the stock to be purveyed.
On the end of the counter opposite the post office sits a weigh scale with its graduated weights stacked neatly beside. On the floor nearby is a larger version of the counter scale, both necessary to weigh bulk commodities. Pre-measured and pre-weighed items already packaged or canned, or bottled would not be available for a number of years to come.
On the floor, wherever there is space are all manner and sizes of containers, barrels, kegs, hessian sacks, packing cases and crates, some of which have been broached, from the maws of which exude the scents peculiar to the contents therein: molasses, crackers, biscuits, coal oil, tea and the rare coffee beans and other condiments (tea was more often used than coffee).
Dry goods are displayed to catch the eyes of the farmers' wives. Bolts in varied shades of reds, blue and yellow fabrics fill the shelves. Underneath the shelves are rows of drawers each with its label of contents. Wool skeins, woolen socks and other woolen goods - many received in barter - are there. A prime example of these drawers are still in place in the old Prentiss store in the newer Chelsea.
In actual fact most of the clothes worn by the store's customers were made on the nearby farms where the sheep were raised. For sale there are buttons, ribbon, thread and needles, shears, real leather boots for wear as Sunday best.
Beneath the stores is a cellar, reached through a trapdoor behind the counter, where are kept in its cool recesses, fish, poultry, port, mutton and now and again a side or two of beef. Also in the cellar are a couple of puncheons or rum, imported from Jamaica, which imparts its own odour to the establishment as soon as the trapdoor is raised. As if the storekeeper had run out of space on the shelves and in the drawers a varied display is suspended from iron hooks in the ceiling. The display runs the gamut from wooden pails, firkins, baskets to sickles, scythes, rakes, spaces and axes, many of the latter tools being produced by the local blacksmith.