66 Commercial

were merchants who served the public in Souris for many years. J .G. oper- ated the Sterns Bros. Store in the west end of the Village from 1867 until 1896. He then leased the store to his brother and went into private banking. In 1902, J.G. resumed mercantile business as Sterns, Son & Co. Charles opened a new store in the Colville block. It was a three storey building made of Island brick, constructed on the site of Prowse Bros. Store (operated by H.H. Acorn) which burned in 1901.

The day of the opening, April 18, two of the clerks could not be there. Mary MacDonald, milliner, was attending the funeral of Father Donald Mac- Donald, parish priest. (Her mother had been Father MacDonald’s house- keeper.) The show window of the store was draped in purple and black in his memory. Amelia Leslie’s sister Emily, first wife of William Underhay died that day. The brochures had been printed and sent out so the opening took place as planned. Other clerks in the store at that time were Dellie Stems, Nell Clark and Frank (Stephen) MacDonald. John Garrett was bookkeeper

and John Lyons, truckman."1 The Matthew, McLean & Company store was located to the west of the

Photo Courmy (7 Roy While

Matthew & McLean Limited

Note the horse-drawn sloven outside the retail outlet of the business.

Slovens were used to move large and heavy objects such as barrels of molasses. The sloven was a low slung wagon with each wheel operating independently without the

benefit of an axle.