“But, Grandmother,” said little May, holding up the tiny pair of
calf-skin shoes, “were these your very _best_ shoes? Didn’t you have
any shiny black ones, with a tassel on, like mine?
[Illustration]
“And where did you buy them, Grandmother? Did Columbus bring them with
him in his ship?”
“No, dear; Columbus didn’t bring Grandma’s shoes in his ship. He sailed
back to Spain again three hundred years before these shoes were made.
“Bring your chair and sit down by me. I will tell you all about these
little worn-out shoes of mine.
“When I was a little girl,” began Grandmother, “children did not wear
shoes all the time. They went barefoot in the summer, except when they
were dressed up. One pair of shoes had to last a whole year.
“When we went to church we used to go barefoot, carrying our shoes in
our hands. At the foot of the hill we washed our feet in the brook and
put on our shoes and stockings.
“Our shoes did not wear out very fast; and if we lost a shoe, we had to
go barefoot till the shoemaker came again.”
“Oh, dear!” sighed May, “how dreadful! Who was the shoemaker,
Grandmother, and when did he come?”
“The shoemaker,” Grandmother replied, “was a very important man when I
was a little girl. ‘Shoe week’ was a busy week in the family.
“I can remember how glad we all were when father said, ‘The shoemaker
will be here to-morrow.’
“That night the shoe bench was brought down from the attic and placed
in a warm corner of the kitchen.
“Father and mother made a list of the shoes that were needed. We
children talked about our new shoes and the shoemaker until we fell
asleep.
“Early in the morning the shoemaker appeared. He carried his bag of
tools and a roll of leather on his back. By seven o’clock he was seated
at his bench, hard at work.
“We children used to sit on the floor beside him and watch him work.
First he measured our feet and drew some paper patterns. Then he cut
out the leather.
“He punched holes along the edges of the leather with a sharp awl; then
the shoe was ready to sew.
“For his sewing he used a long waxed thread, with a stiff bristle at
each end for a needle. All day long he would sit at his bench, putting
the needles into the holes and pulling the thread through, till the
shoe was sewed firmly.
“When all our shoes were made, he packed his bag and said good-by for
another year.”