President Eisenhower must have had the old general store here of A.M. Gregory in mind when he said the other day he would like American merchants to offer some of their customers an old fashion line of memories.
Ike had reference to "the open cracker barrel, the prune barrel, the pickel jug or keg" as well as the homely remarks, proverbs and aphorism that shopkeepers and customers swapped during his boyhood.All of these could have been found at Gregory's one of the earliest general stores in Harlan. The big frame structure later called "the tin building", was located at Clover and Second Streets.
Restaurant Joined Store
The Gregorys restaurant joined the general store. Mr Gregory and his son, Mort, ran the business. It was one of the largest stores in Harlan at that time.
Children crowded to the store with their pennies to buy candy. One day a small boy came into the store and asked the clerk for some "choclate dolls." They were out.
Mort, noticing the dissappointed expression on the childs face, filled a bag of candy and gave to the litle boy. The appeasement wasn't enough. He threw it on the floor and pouted.
Mrs. George Pierce, (shown extreme left in the picture) lived in the rooms over the Gregory store. Electa Miles lived with the Gregory family and Zada Gregory was a niece of the storeowner.
Favorite Gathering Places
The general stores and hotels in Harlan were favorite gathering places for groups of men who sat idly around in the sun whittling on a stick. Spinning yarns was a past time for a lot of old-timers who had no other entertainment.
With much delight one veteran resident tells of the trials and tribulations of early-day judges in Harlan County. Late one evening as the judge sat on the hotel porch, a young couple walked up to the crowd and asked for the judge.
"I'm the judge," he said proudly. The couple shyly explained their mission.
"We want you to marry us," said the young man. The judge realizing that was his duty as well as many others, felt that he should read up a bit before undertaking it. After a few minutes of deliberation, he came back to the porch. Several witnesses stood by.
Nervously the judge began and sailed through the ceremony. Now that is not enough to say he thought. There must be something else I can say. Just as he pronounced them man and wife he added, "and may God have mercy on your soul."
The onlookers laughed and cheered. Never was the judge able to forget his first wedding ceremony. Weddings in the early days meant big celebrations. Usually the whole town turned out.
An old timer recalls receiving unwanted advice from one of his elders pertaining to his approaching marriage.
"Hear you're 'aimin' to get married to that little black eyed gal I seed you sparkin. "No use tellin' you better, you wouldn;t pay no attention," the elderly advisor said, as if talking to himself.
"You'll find out that wimmen is a queer nation of folks," he said as he slowly walked down the road shaking his head.
The "peddlers" who came to Harlan stopped at the Sam Howard and Kelly Hotels. Sometimes "drifters" came to town and all of the old time citizens gaathered around to hear of the world happenings.
Many a years ago a man by the name of Matt Leath traveled through this territory and stopped at the Sam Howard boarding house. Wveryone liked Matt because he was a well informed person who could talk on almost any subject.
A man by the name of "Uncle Jim" had been working all day on Poor Fork in the rain and was "wet to the bone." He was in a bad mood.
Leath and his companions were discussing ther hear-after. "I don't believe in hell," Uncle Jim chimmed in. Matt Leath disgustedly turned away.
"A feller that talks like that, I don't want nothin' to do with him," said Leath. About a year later "Uncle Jim" met Leath again on the porch of the boarding house. Say Jim, do you rember what you said about a year ago on this porch ? Leath asked.
"I guess I do." he replied.
"They tell me you married a gal a few months ago, now what do you believe?" Leath questioned. "Uncle Jim" slowly dropped his head and walked away.
Joshing and joking was carried on in a lively manner around the boarding houses and general stores long, long ago in Harlan.
Sunday March 8, 1953
Volume 52 Number 56
Pages 1 & 8
