EDITOR’S NOTE: Old File’s Store down on the Bringle Ferry Road is gone now, moved to Gold Hill to become part of a historic village.
But Greg File remembers what he saw and heard there, remembers the tales told and opinions argued by the men who gathered around the pot-bellied stove when he was a kid, tagging after his daddy.
And one day he decided to write them down so they’d never be forgotten. And gave them names. And is sharing them with us.
Johnny Morgan’s dog
Johnny Morgan lived just down the road from my grandfather Lum.
Johnny’s daughter married Knox Starnes and lived across the river a mile or so away on what is now Scout Road.
Back at that time, there was no telephone to communicate with, so they trained their dog to carry letters back and forth and sometimes carry butter and other household needs.
All is not what it seems
Craige Holmes was John Holmes’ son.
One evening Craige went to the store after a long day’s work. The store was operated by Arthur Eller at that time and would some years later become File’s store.
Craige was wearing the clothes he had been wearing all day in the fields, and they were dirty and had holes in them. He was also in his bare feet.
At the store, Craige was playing pool with some of the others when Sheriff Cal Miller came in. The sheriff had some business with Arthur, and they went to the office in the rear of the store, which was at one time the post office of Craven.
After their business was through, they came out to where the boys were playing. The sheriff looked at Craige trying to figure him out, thinking he was an uneducated farm boy. Craige was waiting his turn at pool when the sheriff started talking to him.
He told Craige that he heard them betting and was going to have to take him to jail. About that time, it became Craige’s turn to play. He told the sheriff to move over so he could take his turn.
Once he started shooting, he started talking to the sheriff. Craige was using words that many people hardly ever hear, and the sheriff couldn’t understand what he was talking about or even what he was saying about what he was talking about.
The sheriff decided he would leave, since the joking had turned on him. Later, Arthur told the group that Craige had used words that he didn’t know the meaning of, and he knew that the sheriff had to be lost with his little education.
Calf
Ervin Poole had come to Eller’s Store one morning a little happier than normal and told the people there that his wife had given birth to twins last night.
John Holmes was in the store and congratulated him and explained that his wife had given birth to a boy last night.
Ervin boasted that he had beat him because his wife had two and John had only one.
But John’s answer to that was, “Yes, but not by much. You see, my cow had a bull calf as well last night, so my family has increased by a boy and a calf.”
Coming tomorrow: It’s just right.
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