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Section #4.
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Name; Jane K. Leary
Subject: The Shoeworker of Lynn
"During the Lockout in the 70's, that strike lasted about
a month, the strikers lould meet evenin's in a hall down on
Market St. An' them as could 'ould entertain the others. There'd
be songs an' things. A song sung a lot at that time was something
like this:
"I am an Irishman
I can't deny the same,
I came from Tipperary
Patty Burke, it is my name.
Row boys, row,
The more I wish to roam
The sun will shine in the harvest time
To welcome poor Patty home.
I'm the boy that's gay and frisky
No matter where I roam
The sun will shine in the harvest time
To welcome poor Patty home."
Page 2.
"I usta live way up in West Lynn near where the G.E. is
today. Fur quite a long while I rode ta work on a blcycle.
That wuz before automobiles come in, and bicycles wuz handy ta
have, and they wuz all the rage too. There're coming back in
favor taday, but nothin' near like they wuz then.
"Took me 'bout a week ta learn ta ride. Thought I never
would, that week, 'till it come ta me sudden how ta do it. I
got right on then and rode.
"Lotta the men in the shops rode bicycles ta work. Most
a.' them that din't ride the electric cars had 'em, 'less they
lived near the shop. Weld keep 'em in a shed by the shop. Mabbe
be a couple a dozen in that shed.
Colored Cutters Wanted
"In my day, most a the shoe shops had that sign on the out-
sida their shops all the time, and it din't mean colored men
neither. It meant men that could cut colored shoes.
"An' men that would cut 'em. We all hated ta cut 'mu if we
could get outa it fur it wuz like bein' between the devil an, the
deep blue sea. If ya wuz a poor one, ya got the devil from the
boss till he made a nervous wreck outa you. Many's the colored
cutter I seen with his nerves all shot ta blazes 'cause a the
hell he got from the boss who'd always be asayint 'That there
pair a shoes aint matchin' like they oughtal or 'why does it
take you sa much leather ta cut a case a shoes?'
Page 3.
"An' if ya turned out ta be a good colored cutter, ya wuz
in fur it too, 'cause then ya 'd get all the colored work piled
on ya. It wuz no wonder that most a the shops had that sign
out, 'COLORED CUTTERS WANTErbi
"The guys that went ta see their best girls in yella shoes
long about 25 year ago, din't have no idea how hard it wuz fur
the fellas in the cuttinl rooms ta match the parts in them shoes
perfect. It sure took good nerves and brains an' an eye that
wan't color blind ta do it.
a
"No sir, none of us wanted the job of beint/colored cutter,
even though we got more pay fur it. It wuz less pay in the end
fur it took too much outa ya."
Uncle Jimmie spread a newspaper on the kitchen floor to ili-
Ylastrate the difficulty of colored cutting of his day.
"Now say, this here newspaper'd be a piece of colored skin.
There in the center it'd be tapering off ta dark. Here along the
edges it'd be lighter. Well, a colored cutterld havta cut fur one
pair from the outside a the skin so it 'would all be the same color
exact. An' sometimes there'd be fifteen ler tw4nty pieces fur one
pair a shoes, an' that 'would take a lotta leather. If there wun't
be enough a that one shade in the piece a leather ya wuz cuttinl
from, ya might havta go all arounl the cuttinl room, ta match up
what ya wuz cuttinl with the colored leather the other colored
cutters wuz cuttinl from lould jest match the shoes you be cuttinl.
"Then the dark color in the middle a the skin lould be used
fur shoes a darker shade.
Page 4.
"In addition to a colored cutte havins ta match the color,
he also had ta see to it, that the strong part a the leather
lould be in the place that Le4rkti—ber-tr-TrE7Thertr-ithett 'ould get
the hardest wear. An' the pattern had ta lay on the grain a
the leather jest right so the pieces wun't stretch all outa shape.
We had ta do that fur all shoes though, black shoes as well as
colored.
"Accordinl ta the number a pieces in a shoe, that many
little piles a cutterld have there beside him an' each piece that
wuz alike piled one on top anotherin till there10. be enough to
make a case. An' as I said before, sometimes there'd be fifteen
ler twenty pieces. Then when all them little piles lould come
ta the stitcher, she'd take one piece from each pile ta sew to-
gether fur each shoe.
"The pieces fur colored dhoes lould all havta be numbered.
All the pieces fur one pair lould be marked Ill; the pieces fur
the second pair lould be marked '2', and so on. That lould be so
she wun't get the colors mixed up when they wuz matched perfect.
"It's a lot easier ta cut colored shoes taday because the
pieces a leather all comes one shade. That's cause it's tanned
with chemicals. Usta be all vegetable tannin'. We called the
old bark tannin' vegetable tannin!! Some a the skins we cut had
been in them tanner's vats fur weeks an' had had beef blood rubbed
inta the pours a the skin. If ya had gone ta see the tanneried in
my day ya mighta seen the skin a young calf ler goat all sewed ta-
gether and floatin' aroun' in them vats like they wuz the dead
Page 5.
i body a the animals. Took time ta tan skins the old vegetable
tannin' way. But it sure made good leather.
"Ws cutters could always tell the kihda skin we wuz cuttin,
jest from the feel a it."