The Kerosene Jug
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The Kerosene Jug
Many who follow me know that I grew up in a cotton mill village. Cotton mill villages dotted the landscape of the Carolina's and many had company owned community stores where the mill workers could purchase almost anything. As a youngster I enjoyed going into Community Store in Tuxedo. The shelves were stocked with canned goods and there was a wide variety of dry goods from the cotton fabrics mothers could peruse and buy to make dresses or shirts for their children.
Our Community Store also had a butcher shop. Fresh cuts of meat could be purchased and if someone had slaughtered a hog, the butcher shop would make and package sausage. Some of the best sausage I ever ate was made in that little shop by my Uncle Clyde who worked in the Community Store. The candy display case always caught my attention and in those days penny candy. For a nickle one could fill a small brown bag of sugary treats.
The Community Store also sold feed for cattle, chickens, and other animals in a room off to the side of the store. In the back of the store kerosene was also available for sale. Many families in the village used the kerosene to start the wood fires in their home heaters. Such was the case for our family. As I reminisce about those days of my youth during these early days of January I am reminded of our kerosene jug. Daddy kept it on the porch and oftentimes when it was empty he would hand me the jug and tell me to go to the store and get a gallon of kerosene.
The kerosene was stored in a 55 gallon barrel and had a hand pump. The clerk in the store at the time would fill my jug. Ours didn't have screw on lid but a corn cob cut to size became the stopper. Many a fire in my parents wood heater was started using kerosene added to rich pine knots to make the oak or hickory wood burn more easily.
In later years, mom and dad bought a kerosene heater to provide warmth for our house. The old kerosene jug now obsolete sat idle and found its place into the annals of history and a child's memory.
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Hi..we called it paraffine here, and used it for the old, round heaters (with the kettle on the top). They smelled a bit, but a reassuring smell of warmth and home if the regular coal fire hadn't been lit. I, too, remember the smells of the old ironmongers (hardware) shops that sold all the products with strong smells; funny how the mind retains a memory of smells. Some old motors were petrol/paraffine, too, like the old tractors. Started on petrol and switched over when hot. I wonder if that might be attempted today. You have a knack of really illuminating your subject like some of the old yarn tellers in literature...Twain, etc. Bob
Thank you Don. Those were some great times and I often think of eh people, mostly men, who would stand around the store front smoking Prince Albert or squirt tobacco juice into the box woods spinning yarns and knife swapping.
Thank you Bob, Twain huh, that's the best compliment I have ever received for my writing. Happy New Year to the both of you.
Such warm country memories. Small town, Uncle working in the general store and of course the kerosene for heating. You did a great job of bringing your past back to life for us to read.
Thank you tillsontitan
Clyde's sausage,Back when Clyde would do sausage for Billy Owens ,who was employed at Cranston along with Green Wise and several other members of the community.
One day Green always arrived early at the Old Mill Store to comute to Cranston for their second shift comute and Clyde told Green That he had some fresh sausage that belonged to Billy and Clyde was just ready to fry a pan full of that sausage . Clyde told Green that he had one sausage patty that was a special one for Billy ,Clyde had put about three times the amount of sage in that patty as was necessary.When the other people who were Cranston riders arived (and all but Billy who always came in last and wasn't aware of Clyde's prank) and they begin to eat the sausage and to encourage Clyde to add more sage,Billy took one bite and drank a Pepsi and a glass of water and told Clyde that he had ruined his sausage.
I do like your style. another great hub.
Don Bobbitt Level 5 Commenter 4 months ago
Great Hub, fiddleman! Yes this brings back alot of old memories for me when I was a kid growing up in Virginia, also. My uncle had a dry cleaning route, and probably 25% of our stops were at these old Country Stores, where the farmers left their clothes to be picked up and cleaned.
This type of business was everywhere outside the cities, back then, and they provided those things that the locals needed, like you said, from basic food items to feed for livestock.
The first thing that your story brought back to me was the smell when I walked into one of these old stores. It was a combination of the scents of grains, coffee perking, butchered meats, hanging cured hams and in the winter, the old wood stove that was somewhere in the store for heat.
Great Hub! Thanks!