384
COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
boyish fancy, sometimes a hallowed associa tion, somecin>cs a milestone on the road of life, ami sometimes an uplift that has changed the whole current o f one's life. T he old company store o f Waterman & B eaver was an institution in which one had admirable facilities fo r studying human na ture, and in which one could alw ays learn. T his store was built in 1844, ^nd the business was conducted by a number o f individuals and firms connected with the iron works. .Among these were T . 0 . Van A lcn; Comly, Grove & Company, and Waterman & licavcr. It w as d u rii^ the management of the latter that the store reached the height o f its business success. The building w as 17 5 feet in depth, with a front o f 90 feet, and in the sixties was packed with s^>ods. cellar, main floor, second floor and garret. The store w as conducted in four dc(iartments. d ry goods, groceries, hardware and shoes. In addition there was a tailoring department, a gristm ill and a tinshop. in its busiest time there were employed forty or more clerks and the annual sales were as high as $500,000. Those who dealt at this store could purchase anything from a loaf o f bread to a suk dress, or from a shoestring to the hardware finish ings o f a new house. 'Fhe tst of the month was alw ays a notable day, all regular custom ers laying in a month's supply o f staple goods, and the long counters were lined with cus tomers three rows deep. Clerks and custom ers were on friendly terms and many were the jokes that passed back and forth. H ow there come trooping before one the faces— Sam Antrim, Johnny McCloud, Charles Childs, Samuel Ross, Jacob Rhodes, Ja p G ear hart, Archie McLean, Rill Breeze, Jo e Murray, Johnny Cook, Bob Chamberlain. Park A lex ander, John Hunt, Leandcr Nfowrer. Hiat Matchin and CTiarlie Hinckley, in Ihc grocery department; William II. Ilassenplug, Johnny Gaskins. Charlie Reaver, Ed. Sw artz. Sam Bovcr, John Ricketts, Gus Woods and Henry Schoch. on the dry goods side; Joel Hinckley, A . W. Reaver and M. G . Thornton, in the hardware departOKnt: and in the office W. K. Holloway. Ike Crewitt, I.ew Rodenhoffer, H arr)' Crossley. A lex. Diehl, Jacob Miller, R . M . Cathcart, Benjamin W. Pratt and Gobin H offm an; in the tinshop, Frank E verh art; and then Silas .Alexander, (he mail carrier. T o the roll call how few now answer, but in (hose busy, thrilling, strenuous days, oh. how happy and contented, from 7 o'clock until 7, six days in the week. O ver all was the watch ful eye o f Thonuis B eaver; and yet there
nc%*er beat a kinder heart nor lived one more in sympathy w*ith the trials and longings and vicissitudes of the laboring man. In the comixiny store one learned that wealth and prosperity, position and influence, w'crc not antagonistic to poverty and humble nK*an$: but that the humbler leaning on the arm of the wealthier could be lifted into a higher plane and induced to lead a better life. M r. Beaver hcl(>cd more than one |x>or, weak, stru ^ lin g soul to a higher and truer life. There were sports, innocent and harm less, yet o f a nature not to be foigottcn. .Alex. Diehl never foigot the apple butter in his boot; nor Jo e M urray the day he burst the shot bag. Ja p Gearhart will alw ays remem ber the flood in the cellar when the drowning rats sought shelter on his friendly neck. And everybody will remember old N ash, the col ored watchman, who used to preach to the saints on Zion's Hill. T he old store has gone and (he busy hum o f its trade has hccn silenced. But the old scenes will live «*ind abide while memory is enthroned. Oh. h ow cruelly sweet axe the echoes that start. W h en .Memory plays an o ld tunc on the bean .
During the days of the w ar news w as eagerly sought, and the coming of the daily papers was watched with great interest A ]ilace o f general resort w as the bookstore o f George B. Brow n, on M ill street, com er o f Penn, and opposite the "C ity Hotel.” 'Fhcrc was alw ays a fair-sized c o n g r ^ t io n gathered there in the afternoon, w*aiting the coming o f (he daily papers. T his gathering, while wait ing fo r the papers, listened eagerly to discus sions on the war, and after the w ar was over, to many opinions on the political situation. Mr. Brown w*as well read on current affairs and when he could not start anyone else in a discussion he w*as alw ays equal to the en>ergency. M any times the fate of the nation w as settled in this place o f general resort; but as often that fate was unsettled by some con trary individual who would not agree with the arguments advanced, nor accept the con clusions generally adopted. F’rom the fall o f Sum ter to the surrender at .Appomattox the stirring events of the w ar were discussed, and impressions were made that have never been forgotten. Those were days o f deep anxiety and the papers were eagerly read to relieve the intense strain; and when the news o f bat tles fought was displayed in great headlines, oh. the eager search fo r the n.amcs of the killed and wounded and missing. Danrilte had a large number o f boys at the front, and
