I. The Old-time Grocer

“Wallace, light another candle, please. I cannot see very well,” said Mr. Duwell as he sat smiling at the head of the dining table, with carving knife lifted ready to carve the roast.

Wallace turned on another electric light, and everybody laughed.

“That’s a good guess, son,” said his mother. “On my grandfather’s farm they always burned candles, and grandmother made them herself.”

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“Made them herself!” exclaimed Ruth.

“Yes,” replied her mother. “I have often seen the candle moulds. They looked like a row of tin tubes fastened together. The wicks were hung in the middle of the tubes, and the melted tallow was poured in around them. When the candles were hard and cold, they were slipped out ready for use.”

“Your grandmother must have been smart. What relation was she to me?” asked Ruth.

“Your great-grandmother, dear. She was ‘smart,’ indeed. She made not only candles, but soap.”

“Soap!” said Ruth in surprise.

“Yes, and butter,” said Mrs. Duwell.

“Your great-grandfather was ‘smart,’ too,” said Mr. Duwell. “Why, Wallace, he butchered a pig or two, and sometimes a cow in the fall for the winter’s meat.”

“Weren’t there any grocers or butchers?” asked Wallace.

“Yes, indeed; your great-grandmother was the grocer, and your great-grandfather was the butcher for the family.”

“But weren’t there any stores?”

“Yes, the stores were in the big kitchen pantry, the cellar, and the ice-house.”

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“I mean grocery stores like Parker’s, and Wiggin’s,” explained Wallace.

“No, until the towns and villages sprang up there were no stores such as we have now,” said Mr. Duwell. “You see, there were not many people to buy things in the early days, and they lived on farms many miles apart, so it did not pay anyone to keep a store.

“Why is the grocery so useful to everybody?” he asked.

“Because it sells food.”

“That is it. You see, when enough people lived in one place to make a village or town, some one opened a store. Now, how did he get flour to sell?”

“From the miller.”

“Right—and potatoes?”

“From the farmer.”

“Yes, the miller ............