Once upon a time....

About 10 or so years ago, my sweet Grandma Jessie handed me a little plastic bag with what looked like rolled up papers in it. She told me that they were the days receipts of a little general store that was in the town she grew up in (Lewiston, Utah). She went on to tell me that the owner had given them to her father many, many years ago. For what reason, she never knew. She had kept them in her cedar chest for as long as she could remember. When I opened the bag, I couldn't believe what I saw. There were about 25 or so receipts from May 9th, 1891. They were so curled from having spent the last 100 years rolled up that I had to be very careful with them. They were so fragile, the paper was crumbling on the edges. I took them home and layed them one by one in the pages of a book in an effort to flatten them out. Finally, after many months and still no flattening (they would curl right back up when I opened the book..), I put one of my favorites in a frame. Don't you just love the way they used to write??? The store clerk was named Lewis. There are others with the clerks name of Ella. Were Lewis and Ella married?? Did they own the store??? So many questions... The purchaser was S.J. Allen from Lewiston. He bought a dollars worth of sugar (how much do you think that was?), a hat for $2.50 (was it for him or his wife??), suit clothes for $8 (wow, those must have been some fancy duds for that much...) and then as an after thought, a garden fork for $1. A day at the Mercantile for $12.50. Mr. Allen appears to be a big spender! Although, he DID charge this purchase....I wonder how long it took him to pay it off. Did he pay with eggs like Caroline Ingalls did on Little House on the Prairie or was he was the town doctor and payed with services rendered?? There were all kinds of things purchased that day....shoes, tobacco, pans, pills, castor oil, tacks, and another favorite receipt....purchased by M.A. Hendricks, butter(.20), calico(.23), ribbon(.10), and thread(.10). I just love thinking about how life was like way back then. Don't you??? Someday I will take all of the receipts to be framed. They are such an interesting part of history to me.