The Pioneer Store At Spring Hill, Kansas

The counters were not polished (only where the
loafers sat),
But little light shone through the window small,
A sack of Rio coffee made a snug bed for the cat,
The shelves extended haft way up the wall.
'Twas just a "general" country store, at least
they called it so,
Perhaps because they generally were out
Of what the people wanted, and the customer
must go
With things with which they often were in
doubt.

But stores are only ventures and the first must feel
its way
And this was like all others of its kind;
Some groceries and hardware, just enough to
load a dray,
Was largely then with what the shelves were
lined.
But there was more than merchandise dispensed
there ev'ry day,
When settlers from the Wea and Ten Mile,
And roaring, raging Bull Creek, and the Blue,
ten miles away,
Spat on the stove and visited awhile.

^__Ed Blair.