Josh had 2 stories that he liked to tell about the people who frequented his store. One was about a man who went to his brother John's store at Oleoak to sell 1 doz. eggs. John priced him 10 cents on the dozen, and the man left in a huff to go to Josh's store where he stated he could get more money. When the man got to Josh's store, Josh told him that the produce man had just left and eggs had fallen 2 cents a doz. The man quickly replied he could get more than that at John Barbour's store and left in a dead run, jumped on his horse, and tried to beat the produce man to John's store (which, I might add that he didn't).
The second story was about Jim Barbour himself. There was a crowd of men that met everyday at Josh's store to discuss "politics". Josh said basically they gossiped. Anyway, one day Jim Barbour got up ready to leave after their daily "discussion" and walked to the door, turned to the crowd and said:
"The first one of you who mentions my name after I leave is a Son of a Bitch!"
Josh said you could have heard a pin drop after he left, and no one mentioned his name.
Whatever had taken place in the home they grew up in, none of the kids let if affect them in any way. It actually seemed to push them in the opposite direction from their father. When John Barbour died in 1925, he was described as an
"honorable and highly esteemed citizen, who always attended to his business and let other people alone. He most scrupulously respected the rights and feelings of others, and being a man not given to much unnecessary and unprofitable conversation, he avoided much of the trouble which comes through the wagging of a loose tongue; his integrity was unquestioned; his love for truth and justice amounted to a passion; in civic matters those who knew him best were never left in any doubt as which side he gave his allegiance. Truly, we are better people because of him."
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