Page 78 - barefoot-in-the-sand-remembering-the-waning-days-of-the-hopewell-community-(1998)-bruce-c-gragg
P. 78

Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg  74/123




            TRADING IN FARGO

            My "buddy” there was Mack McCrary. He was Papa’s nephew and one of
            the mechanics in the area. He kept bees on the side, and later gave
            me a hive and got me started with bees. He always like to tease me.
            On one occasion he was kidding me and asked me about my "girlfriend."
            Without cracking a smile, I politely asked "WHICH ONE." He never
            asked me again about the girls. That was a family joke for a long
            time. His wife, Bluma was one of Aunt Belle’s daughters. Belle was
            another of Papa's sisters. Aunt Belle and Uncle Benny Leviton had
            several daughters and one son. Three of the daughters and the son
            lived in Fargo, with Jimmy taking over the family general mercantile,
            Mineola later bought her own store. Jimmy married Mr. Emmett Hill’s
            daughter. As Jimmy's boys got old enough to help, they helped and
            later took over the store operation. Benny Gene and Louie along with
            their sister Latrell all worked there as they grew up. A few times
            when we went to Fargo we would stay with Mineola or Aunt Belle,
            mostly we stayed with the Hall's, after all they had more children
            mine and Vera's age.

            The first store I remember going in was an old wooden unpainted
            general mercantile with a front porch, owned by Uncle Benny. It was
            ceiled with the ribbed 1x4 boards, they were not painted but had a
            very old coat of varnish and the smoke and grit over the years from a
            couple of old pot bellied stoves for heat. This was a usual type of
            structure for stores built in the late 1800’s. It was lit with drop
            cord lights with the large clear bulbs and slow turning ceiling fans
            hanging from a bracket on the high ceiling. It was a grocery,
            hardware, feed, seed and general merchandise store. The kind with the
            "Jefferson Island Salt" ad painted on its side. It was also the local
            Post Office. The mailcarrier from Jasper went to Fargo before
            delivering our mail. So we could get mail either from Jasper or
            Fargo. He picked-up the mail from the Post Office here in this store.
            As I recall when entering the store one the left was the Post Office,
            on the right and beyond the Post Office were the dry goods. About
            half way back on the right was an old glass show case full of all
            kinds of candy. Some of the candy was in the old glass jars with the
            big lid that lifted off. At the rear were the groceries and meat
            counter. At the meat counter they had a large walk-in cooler and a
            meat case and behind that a real old "Meat Cutters Block" where they
            cut the meat, and the cheese from a large hoop of cheese. They would
            take time to thoroughly clean the meat block several times a day.
            Even then, they knew of the danger of improper handling of meat
            products. To the left of the meat counter was a doorway that lead to
            the back warehouse for feed, hay and other large quantity items.
            Several items were measured from a large barrels or one of 74












                               www.LakeCityHistory.com LCH-UUID: B98DC69E-ADC1-4EE7-8817-CA941114D897
   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83