Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves
Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share
Speaker 1: my experiences and life lessons. This country Life is presented
Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you
Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast the airwaves have to offer. All right, friends,
Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tail gate. I've got
Speaker 1: some stories to share. The Country Store. The country Store
Speaker 1: was the hub of a lot of activity throughout a
Speaker 1: rural community. Times have change, and with less people living
Speaker 1: in the country, and with modern development moving the city
Speaker 1: limits further and further away from town, those places are
Speaker 1: becoming a thing of the past. I'm talking about them
Speaker 1: and what I think we're missing when they're going away,
Speaker 1: and what we can do to preserve everything that was
Speaker 1: the country Store. I think you'll like it, even if
Speaker 1: you've never been in one, and after you listen you
Speaker 1: may realize that maybe, just maybe you have. But first,
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you a story. Finus. That's pH
Speaker 1: I n I E. S. Finess Sly. My maternal grandfather
Speaker 1: had a head full of white hair and it had
Speaker 1: turned that way early in his life. Making him look
Speaker 1: older than he was now. One thing he was not
Speaker 1: was quote unquote an old man even when he was one.
Speaker 1: He was strong and smart as anyone educated beyond his
Speaker 1: high school diploma, and was a reader of everything. He
Speaker 1: was self educating him cell pH on anything he could
Speaker 1: pick up and read at night before bedtime. Readers, Digest,
Speaker 1: Popular Mechanics, National Geographic, Progressive Farmer, and Western novels were
Speaker 1: his favorite. He was also the epitome of a Southern gentleman.
Speaker 1: He worked every day at the farm and at that
Speaker 1: time our family store, Slies Grocery. Sunday after church would
Speaker 1: find him at the farm looking after the chickens, the hogs,
Speaker 1: and the cows, and put a lot of work into
Speaker 1: his farm and his business, and so that the folks
Speaker 1: that worked for him. He believed in doing things the
Speaker 1: right way, treating folks like he wanted to be treated,
Speaker 1: and had a low tolerance for anything else. Let me
Speaker 1: jump a whole generation later, and while I was occasionally
Speaker 1: attending college, I worked as a weekend dispatcher at the
Speaker 1: local police department. The chief of police at that time
Speaker 1: in the mid eighties, had been the chief since the
Speaker 1: late fifties and he told me a story once about
Speaker 1: my grandfather and our store. He said he was standing
Speaker 1: outside of the police department talking with someone when a
Speaker 1: man from out of town walked up to him, nursing
Speaker 1: a black eye in a bloody nose. He claimed to
Speaker 1: have been attacked and assaulted by an old man at
Speaker 1: a store on the edge of town. The man said
Speaker 1: the altercation was unprovoked and proceeded to explain to the
Speaker 1: chief the location of where the incident occurred. He had
Speaker 1: the man waited city hall while he drove out to
Speaker 1: my grandfather's store, reasonably sure that he knew who the
Speaker 1: alleged perpetrator was since everyone in town knew my grandfather.
Speaker 1: What he didn't know, since he knew my grandfather so well,
Speaker 1: was what had actually happened and why now. Upon arrival,
Speaker 1: he said he remembered my mother sitting on the counter
Speaker 1: in the store, laughing when he walked in, my grandfather
Speaker 1: standing in front of the counter, ready to meet his fate,
Speaker 1: and my grandmother saying, well, finus, that temper of yours
Speaker 1: has landed you in jail this time now, my mother.
Speaker 1: My mother said she and other folks who were in
Speaker 1: the store shopping when the fight occurred, saw the whole
Speaker 1: thing from start to finish, and were standing there waiting,
Speaker 1: ready to tell their side of the store. Here's what happened.
Speaker 1: The man, unknown to my grandfather, had asked for a
Speaker 1: tank of gas and a bill of groceries on credit.
Speaker 1: My grandfather explained to him that since he didn't know
Speaker 1: him and he didn't have anyone with him that could
Speaker 1: vouch for his ability to pay him back, he wouldn't
Speaker 1: be able to help him out, but if he could
Speaker 1: get someone to speak up for him, he'd be glad
Speaker 1: to help him. The man got angry and my grandfather
Speaker 1: told him to leave the store, and as he was leaving,
Speaker 1: he said he's had some very profane things to my grandfather,
Speaker 1: which probably would have been bad enough, but he made
Speaker 1: the mistake of saying it in front of my mother,
Speaker 1: who was just a teenage girl at the time, and
Speaker 1: my grandmother, who was a saint all the time. According
Speaker 1: to the chief of police and my mother. My grandfather
Speaker 1: grabbed an axe handle as he walked by a barrel
Speaker 1: full of him that were for sale and that sat
Speaker 1: beside the door. As he walked out following the man,
Speaker 1: words were exchanged outside about his lack of manners, and
Speaker 1: shortly thereafter a lesson in manners was given and received.
Speaker 1: Sly's Grocery Store in Warren, Arkansas a place where you
Speaker 1: could get staples like groceries, gas, and educated on manners.
Speaker 1: No arrests were made more on that place than a minute.
Speaker 1: But that's just how that happened. The big indoor mall,
Speaker 1: the strip mall, and all the other businesses that would
Speaker 1: become the modern day places to meet, eat and shop
Speaker 1: all have the country store to think. The rural business
Speaker 1: for exploring Europeans trading goods and services started soon after
Speaker 1: they hit the bank in search of a better life,
Speaker 1: adventure and treasure. Everyone at one time or another had
Speaker 1: to make a Walmart run, and that started not long
Speaker 1: after May the thirteenth of sixteen oh seven, when one
Speaker 1: hundred and four enterprising men and boys started making tracks
Speaker 1: from their boats westward on the beaches of Virginia after
Speaker 1: four and a half month at sea that kicked off
Speaker 1: from London, England. I bet the lads were getting a
Speaker 1: little spicy by the time they hit the east coast. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: the first washing area was still one thousand, three hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty nine miles away in Fort Worth, Texas, and
Speaker 1: wouldn't be invented for another three hundred and twenty seven years.
Speaker 1: Now that's a long time to wait for clean drawers. Fortunately,
Speaker 1: there was someone willing to fill the void for services.
Speaker 1: The country store, or a reasonable facsimile of what we know,
Speaker 1: is one soon after I told you about the little
Speaker 1: store of my youth, not far from where we lived,
Speaker 1: that sat in the wye of the gravel road, that
Speaker 1: if you went right coming from town, when you got there,
Speaker 1: it would take you to our house, and if you
Speaker 1: took a left, you were headed toward Crane Lake or
Speaker 1: the Saline River. That little country store was owned and
Speaker 1: operated by a lifelong resident of the community who ran
Speaker 1: it until he retired. It was sold to an enterprising
Speaker 1: family whose questionable hand washing was brought to light back
Speaker 1: on episode one thirteen of This Country Life. You should
Speaker 1: go back and listen to that one if you hadn't
Speaker 1: already anyway, the country store in most places was the
Speaker 1: department store of today. They didn't have it. They could
Speaker 1: order it, they couldn't order it, more than likely didn't
Speaker 1: need it. Everything from canned grocers to bread, leather goods, clothes,
Speaker 1: and bullets and beans could be bought there with credit
Speaker 1: accounts for those that qualified, the qualifications being that their
Speaker 1: word was good and when and if there was ever
Speaker 1: a problem, someone would be standing before the grocer with
Speaker 1: the reason why they needed extra time to pay or
Speaker 1: make an offer to trade something of value or time
Speaker 1: and labor against their unpaid balance. Remember my Grandpa papall Sly,
Speaker 1: the Southern gentleman's store owner. Well, he and his wife
Speaker 1: Beulah known to us all including my friends as Mamasly,
Speaker 1: lived in town across the road from that store. They
Speaker 1: had sold it by the time I got old enough
Speaker 1: to remember it, but my mother told me stories of
Speaker 1: my grandfather extending credit to folks that needed help and
Speaker 1: tolding the note for him for a long time, or
Speaker 1: sometimes forgiving some debts altogether. For families that were just
Speaker 1: struggling but trying. He delivered some groceries to those that
Speaker 1: didn't have a car, and not everyone did back then.
Speaker 1: He'd load the pickup with the orders people had called
Speaker 1: in and my grandmother had gathered up from the shelves.
Speaker 1: Then he would make his deliveries and collect what was oweding.
Speaker 1: Most families that had accounts at the store worked for
Speaker 1: the lumber mills in town that would pay their bills
Speaker 1: from the previous weeks on payday as new groceries were
Speaker 1: delivered from their orders. It was a good system, and
Speaker 1: it worked for the most part. There were a few
Speaker 1: that tried to get by and take advantage of my
Speaker 1: grandfather's generosity. Excuses were cheap and plentiful, and even when
Speaker 1: he knew better, my mother told me he'd give them
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt until they crossed the line.
Speaker 1: I had to go with him when he made his
Speaker 1: rounds delivering groceries and collecting the money. Regardless of the task,
Speaker 1: he'd let her go with him, the little girl sitting
Speaker 1: beside him as they went through the neighborhoods, dropping off
Speaker 1: goods and collecting payments. She hopping out of the truck
Speaker 1: in her little ruffled dresses and bows in her hair,
Speaker 1: walking with him to greet all the people that she
Speaker 1: knew that traded in her daddy's store. She told me
Speaker 1: the one day, after several stops, he pulled up to
Speaker 1: someone's house that was notorious not only for not paying
Speaker 1: his bills, but for not taking care of his family,
Speaker 1: not the way he should have spending more time looking
Speaker 1: for something to drink and work and provide feed his
Speaker 1: wife and children. My grandfather got out of the truck,
Speaker 1: and as she slid over in the seat to get
Speaker 1: out too, he said, no, baby, you stay here this time.
Speaker 1: And with that, my grandfather reached behind the seat of
Speaker 1: the truck and took out a hammer and walked up
Speaker 1: the path to the front door of the house. Called
Speaker 1: the man out on the porch. She said. He came out,
Speaker 1: and I could hear Daddy talking to the man and
Speaker 1: the man talking back, but I couldn't hear what they
Speaker 1: were saying. They were both talking really low. Then the
Speaker 1: man went back in the house, and he came back
Speaker 1: with some money and handed it to my daddy like
Speaker 1: he was mad, and he started to go back in
Speaker 1: the house, but Daddy wouldn't let him leave. Then your
Speaker 1: grandpa counted some money out, stuck it in his shirt pocket,
Speaker 1: and handed the man back what was left. The man
Speaker 1: looked surprised, and they shook hands. And he never said
Speaker 1: what they talked about or exactly what happened on that porch.
Speaker 1: But after I got older, I knew why he took
Speaker 1: the hammer with him, But I also know that he
Speaker 1: gave the man back money that he owed my daddy
Speaker 1: with a promise to use it for his family. The
Speaker 1: first example I highlighted in this opening story of this
Speaker 1: podcast about my grandfather may make him seem like he
Speaker 1: was a mean or a violent person, and if you
Speaker 1: think that, you'd be wrong. The second account described him perfectly.
Speaker 1: He was a well respected member of the community who
Speaker 1: would give all he could until the giving took away
Speaker 1: from his ability to take care of his family. Family
Speaker 1: was his first priority, and he believed everyone else's priority
Speaker 1: should be family as well. He stopped at nothing to
Speaker 1: take care of his and would do all he could
Speaker 1: to take care of others. Country stores were a lot
Speaker 1: of things. The main things they were was a community
Speaker 1: gathering place for friends and neighbors to visit. A few
Speaker 1: miles up the road in New Edinburgh, Arkansas, there were
Speaker 1: several stores that fit this mold over time, only one
Speaker 1: remains there now. It was there that we would gather
Speaker 1: sometimes after a morning of hunting during turkey season. We
Speaker 1: checked the signing sheet to see if anyone had killed
Speaker 1: the turkey, and meet at the back to hear everyone's
Speaker 1: report from what had gone on during the summer. We'd
Speaker 1: be there buying crickets and crappy jigs, asking in line
Speaker 1: about where the fish were or weren't biting. My all
Speaker 1: time favorite was when it was cold outside and there
Speaker 1: was a fire in the wood stove and the old
Speaker 1: men were holding court, reading the paper and drinking coffee
Speaker 1: and solving all the world's problems. Right there in the
Speaker 1: back of that story, you could warm your hands, you're
Speaker 1: behind and your soul with stories of long ago from
Speaker 1: the folks who witnessed and lived. Those places are fewer
Speaker 1: and further between now, but they're still around. Eleven years ago,
Speaker 1: back when I was still having to really work for
Speaker 1: a living, my job took me to a little community
Speaker 1: in the Delta region of eastern arc and Saw farming
Speaker 1: was and still is the main employer in that area.
Speaker 1: And that'sle between large expansions of plowed ground rest the
Speaker 1: tiny community of Melwood, Arkansas, sporting a bustling population of
Speaker 1: twenty one. It lies one mile due west of Island
Speaker 1: sixty five, the famous Jackson Point Hunting Club on the
Speaker 1: Mississippi River. This place is exactly what I assumed it
Speaker 1: would feel like walking into my grandfather's store sixty years
Speaker 1: ago and warned, and what it did feel like walking
Speaker 1: into the one in neew Edinburgh, where I lived later
Speaker 1: in life. I was there around dinner time or lunch
Speaker 1: if you prefer but I went in to get a
Speaker 1: cold drink and something to eat, and the smell of
Speaker 1: cooking food drew me to the back of the store
Speaker 1: and I ordered the plate lunch. I don't remember what
Speaker 1: it was. I just remember it was good and hadn't
Speaker 1: been microwaved. I sat down at a table and across
Speaker 1: from me sat several folks who were older than me.
Speaker 1: They weren't eating, not yet anyway, but I could tell
Speaker 1: this was their group and regular place to meet, to
Speaker 1: sit and to visit. I needed to be on down
Speaker 1: the road at another point of interest that was the
Speaker 1: focus of my trip. I was on a schedule, and
Speaker 1: the twenty minutes out allotted to eat that day quickly
Speaker 1: turned into an hour and a half. I got home
Speaker 1: that evening two hours late and told Alexis about my
Speaker 1: day when she asked, and it was the best day
Speaker 1: I'd had at work in a long time. It inspired
Speaker 1: me to write the following day what I'd like to
Speaker 1: read to you now February seventeenth, twenty fourteen. Two and
Speaker 1: a half hours from my home is a forgotten farming community.
Speaker 1: A post office that could fit inside my house stands
Speaker 1: next to a general store. The flag of our nation
Speaker 1: flaps gently in the breeze, and here it seems time
Speaker 1: stands still. The old folks are positioned behind and in
Speaker 1: front of the counter and places one can imagine or theirs,
Speaker 1: places that they assumed yesterday, places they will be tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and places they will be as long as they're able.
Speaker 1: The floor creaked with ages. I walked inside, but it
Speaker 1: held firm. It held the way things hold that were
Speaker 1: built when the measure of a craftsman was gaged by time,
Speaker 1: not budget. Invited, I sat down and we talked, And
Speaker 1: for an hour I talked with four old strangers who
Speaker 1: spoke of family in simple times. Little Rock was a
Speaker 1: far away place. If they chose not to go, why
Speaker 1: should they? Everything and everyone they needed was here, And
Speaker 1: for an hour they let me watch. I missed those
Speaker 1: folks today, in the times of which that encounter reminded me.
Speaker 1: Majority of you who will read this and played a
Speaker 1: part one way or another in my life, and without you,
Speaker 1: good or bad, I wouldn't be where I am today
Speaker 1: and today, my friends, I'm in a good place now.
Speaker 1: That's what I wrote that day, and all these years later,
Speaker 1: I still get the same feeling of reverence reading it
Speaker 1: now as I did then. It makes me want to
Speaker 1: get up and drive over there to see my old
Speaker 1: friends at a place I have never returned, to see
Speaker 1: people whose names I never learned, and people I'd never
Speaker 1: seen before that day, but made a lasting impression on me.
Speaker 1: Just the same, Bellwood's Grocery is still open. I have
Speaker 1: no idea how long it's been there, and even though
Speaker 1: I've only been there once in person, I've been there
Speaker 1: a thousand times in my memory, just like mister almas
Speaker 1: Mark's story at the why in the county road where
Speaker 1: my brothers and sisters, cousins and I would make our
Speaker 1: way to either walking, riding bicycles, horses, or hitching a
Speaker 1: ride from someone headed in that direction, a four and
Speaker 1: a half mile trip on a hot, dusty gravel road
Speaker 1: that held the promise of adventure and discovery between home
Speaker 1: and a coke if we had enough money a candy
Speaker 1: bar or two to share. Those roads are all paved
Speaker 1: now and have been for a long time, and I
Speaker 1: drive them now without kicking up a torn of dust
Speaker 1: as I make my way along those roads that six
Speaker 1: generations of my family before me it as well. I
Speaker 1: wonder what they thought about as they traveled along, passing
Speaker 1: familiar homes and places. At what point did the reverence
Speaker 1: for this land and the community become so strong among
Speaker 1: the folks who've lived there. It's always been an important
Speaker 1: place in my life. Naturally, everyone's home is, but sometimes
Speaker 1: it takes moving away just to see how important those
Speaker 1: places are, or visiting a place for the first time
Speaker 1: that it's so similar to your own you feel right
Speaker 1: at home from the beginning. Places like these are all
Speaker 1: around us, and they don't necessarily have to be isolated.
Speaker 1: Rural stores with hot, dusty, barefooted youngers running in and
Speaker 1: out of a park bench, a diner, a church, a
Speaker 1: friend's front porch, any place where we have an occasion
Speaker 1: to pause and enjoy the company of familiar faces, even
Speaker 1: those of strangers, all looking for the same thing, kind
Speaker 1: word from an old friend or a new one. Tomorrow
Speaker 1: is March the first, and me Bear John and his
Speaker 1: pappy Clay Bow will be attending the Black Bear Bonanza
Speaker 1: at the Benton County Fairgrounds in Bentonville, Arkansas. Look up
Speaker 1: the Black Bear Bananza twenty twenty five and get directions
Speaker 1: and ticket information. It's going to be a lot of fun,
Speaker 1: so load the wagon and y'all come. Seis until next week.
Speaker 1: This is it read sign it off. Y'all be careful.