By James Perry

He awakens from a deep sleep to the alarm of his Little Ben Alarm Clock. His foggy brain realizes it is time to get up and start his day. He realizes it is 4 a.m. the time he has been arising for the last 30 years during his six-day work week of Monday through Saturday. He then remembers that today is Tuesday, April 25, 1950. He turns on the radio, which is always set to WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee. Today’s weather calls for highs of 72 degrees with tonight’s low down to 36-degree temps. It probably will be the last night with mid 30-degree temps until late September or October.
The forecast reminds Bill Graveston to place his orders next week for Big Chief tablets, #2 lead pencils, crayon sets and other school supplies to arrive at his store here in Sharps Chapel, Tennessee, by mid-July, as school will start the first week in September, a week or two after the tobacco crop will be cut and hung in the barns to cure—or as the farmers call it, “to dry.” Bill has to work up his order for Stone Mountain Brogan shoes and boots in boys’ and men’s sizes. Most of his customers will buy winter shoes for boys around October 15. Most boys will be barefoot through summer and early fall after their boots are worn out. Bill almost forgot that he needs to order up a few tobacco spears and maybe a few tobacco knives as some farmers will need to replace some worn out or lost.

Now it’s time to grab a bite of breakfast and then Bill Graveston’s General Store opens for business at 6 a.m. There are a few people who will be stopping for gas for their old cars or pickup trucks and some picking up bologna sandwiches for their dinner at work.

After 8 a.m. the drummers (salesmen) and delivery trucks start coming in. Today there will be a gas delivery and Coca Cola, RC Cola, Tom’s Snacks and H.T. Hackney deliveries. At 11 a.m., farmers will start stopping by to get bologna sandwiches, RCs, and Cokes for dinner. Some will eat sardines or Vienna sausage for dinner. Everyone calls it dinner and supper comes at the end of the day.

Now mind you that Bill has not had time to stop for dinner as he has been busy with customers coming in to do business or place orders for future needs. The front “Liar’s” Bench has been full with some old men sitting on RC Cola crates playing checkers with a homemade checker board and using RC Cola and Coca-Cola bottle caps as checkers. By the way there are thousands of bottle caps scattered around, some of which are flattened by cars and pickups. All day long cars from Model As to 1950s Fords, Chevys, Plymouths, Dodges and Studebakers stop by for gas and snacks.

The boys on the Liar’s Bench try to aggravate Bill by stealing crackers from the cracker barrel which are for those eating sardines or hoop cheese.

Bill stops by the little area which his stock of fishing tackle is and sees that it is getting low on jigs, spoons, line, sinkers and floats. Gotta get some quick, as sales will slow to nearly nothing as hay cutting and baling hits late May and early June. The farm boys who fish will be in the hay fields and when that ends it will be time to plow and hoe the tobacco and also beans, corn, tomatoes will be coming in to be canned. There’s no let up of jobs to be done on the farm until the hogs are killed and the meat is smoked and canned around Thanksgiving. If the farm chores are done before dark most of the boys head for Norris Lake to swim and play until near midnight.

Bill Graveston’s store building was moved from the Lost Creek Community of Sharps Chapel just before Norris Lake was raised from the Clinch and Powell Rivers during the early 1930s. Most of these store buildings were made from chestnut, oak and ash lumber. When most stores along old Highway 33 and in the settlements now under Norris Lake were built, the men knew when to cut the trees as to the moon phase and the right month when the sap was down and how to cure the logs. That’s why some of those old store buildings, houses, churches and school buildings lasted so long. That knowledge has been lost and today the lumber and timber companies cut, trim, mill and then fill the lumber with chemicals.

Well, Bill has a few minutes’ lull now. So, he makes a bologna sandwich for himself and eats about half of it at 2:30 p.m. Then in comes more customers and he puts the sandwich down and finishes it about 4 p.m. Bill has another short break after finishing his bologna sandwich and grabs his tank pole and goes outside to his gas tank hatch, opens it and sticks the metered pole in the tank to check his gasoline. He has 400 gallons in the tank. Time to order another load of gas for early next week.

Stores in the county like Bill’s would average 2,500 gallons in sales per month. The profit on gasoline was very low. Maybe 20 percent, but it brought in customers. A customer might buy 10 gallons of gas for 28 cents per gallon for $2.80. This gave a gross profit of 56 cents. Not much, but a percentage of those buying gas while paying inside the store would buy a soft drink with a bag of salted peanuts; maybe a plug of chewing tobacco or a can of Prince Albert smoking tobacco with a tablet of OCB rolling papers.

Bill would have an increase of business around 4 p.m. as those who had jobs in Knoxville or worked in Union County would be heading home. Some would stop for either gas or maybe a loaf of bread or soap and RC Colas or Cokes to take home.

In the spring or early summer, Bill sold lots of boys and mens straw hats and caps. He also sold overalls, denim shirts, and for winter, heavy denim coats. Most rural families would go to Knoxville in early August and shop for kids’ school clothes at Sears, Roebuck and Company or J.C. Penneys. The boys preferred blue jeans from J.C. Penneys, as with each two pairs of blue jeans the boys got a free Barlow knife. What a deal! Style or brand did not matter!

Well now the shadows are getting long this April at Bill Graveston’s General Store. It’s 7 p.m. and time to close for the day, but Bill’s work is not over. Bill has to ice the drink box. Then refill it for tomorrow morning’s business, clean the knives, spoons and forks used to make sandwiches and sweep the floor. Then count today’s money, run up the cash register tape and hope they balance with the money count. After 8:30 p.m. Bill heads to bed as 4 a.m. it’s time to start over again. Thank God for Sundays as Bill gets some rest after church.

For some relaxing listening pleasure
Type into your computer:
“Guess Who” by Slim Whitman
“I Love You Because” by Leon Payne

See you next month.