aoxns p. sour:-was ms. co. “23
they shall be so kept from the time the business of the day is ended, and
the store closed for theinight. It is part of the business day, and not
"night,?’ within the meaning of the policy, so long as the store is kept
open and business transacted, though it be 8, 9, or 10 o’clock at night;
in other words, within the meaning of the policy, night begins when the
business for the day ends. tWhat has been said disposes of the defense
· that the store was "not actually open for business " at the time of the tire.
-&The fact is found that it was so open. V The circumstance that the door
was locked, so that customershad to knock for admission,4has’no sig-
nificance in the light of the evidence. When they knocked they were
admitted and waited upon. A store is "actual1y openfor business" when
it is lighted up and the merchant or his clerk is there ready, able,`and
desirous to sell goods, or do anything else that constitutes a part of the
work or labor of conductingthe mercantile business. A store is as much .
"open for businesss" while the merchant is waiting for customers, during
his customary business hours, as it is when the customers are present.
An essential and indispensable part of the daily business was actually in
progress when the fire broke out., The clerk was writing up the day’s
businessin the books, in accordance with the custom and usage in coun-
try stores, where thesalesman does duty as book-keeper also,-country
merchants rarely employing professional book-keepers. This work was
going on in strict compliance with the covenant exacted from the plain-
tiifs by-4 the defendant; and if the defendant desiredito prohibit the plain-
· *titl"s from complyingwith this covenant by doing the work in the store
after sunset, in accordance with the custom and usage of country mer-
chants,· it should have inserted a stipulation in the policy to that effect.
·The covenant to keep books, and the covenant to keep them in a safe,
must: be construed together, and, in the absence of an express stipulation
to the contrary, the covenant to keep books will be construed to mean
that the books shall be kept inthe time and manner usual andcustom-
ary with merchants. J udg’ment“for plaintiffs for the amount of the
` policy. A *   i T ' V
I