The Country Store 
     
    
   
   
    
     The country store was the business 
     
     and social centre of the community. C. 
     
     H. Hicken & Son was the general store 
     
     operated by Percy Hicken, the business 
     
     having been established many years 
     
     earlier by his father. You could find 
     
     everything that was needed there, from 
     
     foodstuffs to bags of grain for pigs and 
     
     cattle to kerosene and naphtha gasoline 
     
     for lamps. 
     
    

    
     People brought eggs to the store and 
     
     sold them to buy their groceries. Since 
     
     the community lacked electricity, no 
     
     refrigeration was available. That meant 
     
     the freshness of the eggs was always 
     
     suspect. Wholesalers shipped molasses 
     
     to the store in huge casks. Customers