"DOWN AT THE STORE" 201 



of our institutions ; I might almost say the 

 chief of them casino and lyceum in one. 

 If somebody once called the place a " yarn 

 factory," that was only in the way of a joke. 

 On a rainy holiday it was a great resource. 

 There were always talkers and listeners there, 

 the two essentials, and the talk was 

 often racy, though never, so far as I know, 

 unfit for a boy's hearing. The town sup- 

 ported no local newspaper, nor did we feel 

 the need of any. You could get all the news 

 there was, and more too, "down at the 

 store." If the regular members of the club 

 failed to bring it in, the baker or the candy 

 peddler would happen along to supply the 

 lack. And after all, say what you will, word 

 of mouth is better than printers' ink. 



And while you listened to the talk, you 

 could be eating a stick of barber's-pole candy 

 or a cent's worth of dates, or, if your wealth 

 happened to admit of such extravagance, you 

 could enjoy, after the Cranford fashion, quite 

 unembarrassed by Cranford pudicity, a two- 

 cent orange. Those were the days of small 

 things. Dollars did not grow on every bush. 

 Seven-year-old boys, at all events, were not 



