A Morning Meeting at Mrs. Price’s Store

“I will be at Mrs Prices Store on Friday, the 16 of July, on the Mail train going East.”

Hold this little yellowed slip of paper in your hand, and you can almost feel the dust of 1886. It is a humble thing, really—just a small rectangular note card that has survived the passing of nearly a hundred and forty years. You can see the dark ink of the cursive script standing out against the aged paper, and if you look closely at the left edge, there is a tiny puncture and a bit of a stain, perhaps where it was once pinned to a board or held fast in a dusty ledger.

In this short letter, a man named W.G. Manoson is reaching out to arrange a simple meeting. He tells his friend that he will be arriving on the mail train heading east, pulling into town on Friday, July 16th. He plans to wait at Mrs. Price’s Store until noon the next day. He is hoping to sit down with the recipient and a fellow named Mr. Pugh to finally settle a legal judgment against the Board of Education. It is a piece of official business, yet it feels so personal when written out by hand on such a delicate scrap.

Back then, places like Mrs. Price’s Store were the heart of the community. They weren’t just for buying flour or checking the post; they were the local hubs where neighbors met to resolve disputes and shake hands on important deals. While the talk of judgments and school boards sounds like something you would find in a courthouse today, this note reminds us that history was often made in the aisles of a general store between neighbors.

Looking at this artifact today, we are reminded that our ancestors’ lives were built on these small, face-to-face moments. In our fast-paced world of instant messages, there is something deeply touching about a man traveling by rail just to look someone in the eye and make things right. It is a gentle nudge from the past, telling us that being present for one another and honoring our word still matters most of all.

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