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OR/011UiL M. OR FIILD NOTE6 (Cheek one)
Livia4 Lyre in
Wow *Owl
WRITER all 4111 L, ISAWIfir
DATE 4/10/113 ES. PP. 13
CHECKER
D1LTE
souRcEs, ouni (t) Aptereim
COMMENTS
page 5.
THE TRIP TO AMERICA
Whin I 'us 21, I come over alone in a steamboat that
landed at Philadelphia ant there I seen the first cable cars
I iver seen in ma life. I jest had three sovereigns in ma pocket
whin got, there, but I said ta myself, 'If it tikes a hull
sovereign, I am agonna eat: An' I got me a good meal fir maself.
C It sure taisted good fir 'us I sick on the trip over?
It come on me in the English channel. Anyone that's gonna get
sick, always gets it in the English channel fir that's the
roughest place.
But I din't stay in Philadelphia long 4cause our passage
eu
ticket gig* us a ride on the train ta Hobsiken. But before I ILft
I met up with an Englishman an, his wife an' boy from Manchester,
England. They'd come over on the same bat ant was goint on
ta, New York. They wus kind ta me, so I saved parta my sover4ns.
w Whin we got a Hoboken, we come across ta New York on the
ferry boat. But thin we said goodby 'cause his wife got awful
homesick an' she made sech a fuss that he timed arounl an'
started back ta England agin. I niver seen em sence an' I -ram
sorry too. Fir they was good friends, an? they was rick, I thank.
He hgd a brother somewhere on Beacon St.
So I *int on ta New York alone. There I seen the biggest
meat market I iver seen in my life before or mice. There ins
rows an' rows a the fienest kinda meat,
I come from New York on the Pall River Liene ta Fall River
an' from there I took the train ta Boston. Thin I come up ta
Lynn on the Narra Gage. My brother..in-aaw muz here, that is my
second wife's brother, but I wasn't married thin,
page 6.
*Lynn looked a lot diffrunt thIn it does taday. There
wers no electric cars in Lynn thin. There wasn't sa many ef
the big blocks like there is toddy, and there was more space -1-4-r44-;-.)
(between)the houses. There wuz horse cars. The Narra Gage wus
here though and the other railroad too. But the town wasn't
sa big.
I wint ta room with some folks who'd got settled here some
years batons. They had a growed up family ant they owned their
house. It sus a three story, ant they rinted parta it, and rinted
out rooms beside.
*I took my meals there fir a time, but a.gter a while I ate
down at the Winthrop Hotel on Summer St. Ya oughts see the meals
they put out fir $4. a week. £J.l ya could eat an' good stuff
utv
toox. But in this days ya could se4 good juicy pounds beef
steak fir 25 cents a pound and now ya can't get one pound fir
that. That steak was as juicy as a piece a cheese.
41.P .4;
The roster's ,y1rotective 134fon wuz strong thin, but there
wuz some shops din,t and 'unit have union men in 'em
CO' \‘ity brother-in-law worked in one a thin, run by Patrick Sherry.
Well, he got me a job ta learn ta last a show.
All this wuz before the lastint machines (machines) come in.
A
There wuzntt no niggerhead thin and no bed machaineo Least•44's
Patrick Sherry din't have one in his shop. Musts bin about 2500
hand lasters in the city. And most a think belonged ta the ungon.
Took me a year ta learn ta last. Ant then I joined the
union ant that lost me my job for Patrick Sherry wuntt have no
union men in his shop. There was a strike Weer that there owls.
*After that I worked in anther shop fir two years ant
then went to Salem, N. H. ta
and the man that run it owed
outa it without his °win' me
page 7.
work. But that shop failed up
me 460. But I viz lucky ta get
more. Fir some a the fellas
got in deepertn me. I come back
in diffrunt shops.
I always did hand lastint
worked on the bed maohaine.
ta Lynn thin ant I worked
except one tame When I
But ya know when a hand laster
tried ta work thin madhaines he
machaines doint the work. Held
or be sa stiff like(tense) when
that held be all tired out of a
us hand lasters
bed machaine ant
hand lastint.
jest countt get usta ta the
hold on sa tieght ta the shoe,
holdint the she. ta the maahaine,
night. It wuz,much harder fir
then doint hand lastinl. I dintt laike the
I quit it soonts I could an went back ta
page 6
The Niggerhead Machine
In the 170s ant the 80s. the United Shoe, wuz jest called
the Niggerhead Company. That vus 'cause the niggerhead ins the
most important machaine they owed. They wanted ta put it in
all the shops, a course, ant the Lasterts Protective Union
dintt want tim there fir a coupla raisons.
First, they thought they wuntt mirk, ant thin, they
thought if they did wirk, they'd take away all the wirk from
the hand lasters.
*But the lasters dintt lorry about it inch fir, as I
told ya before, most a the min wus jest about sure, the nigger
head wuntt wirk.
They voted in meetint two, three tames on whether ta
accept thim, ant each time they firmed 'em down. They dintt
avin (even) consider thim an emportant thang ta discuss.
idf they hadda accepted t em now, what a diffrunce it
toulda made fir the lasters. Fir by votint fir 'em, ant havint
the approval a the Laster.' Protective Union back a tem, the
Niggerhead Company would& agreed ta jest use union min (men)
ta run tem.
Like it must the Niggerhead Company got their nigger
head in some a the shops without the Union approvint a it,
ant whin the lasters vuntt run 'em the owners the shops got
scabs in ta run tem. That way a lotta the old hand lasters
got pushed outs the lastint rank (rink) ant some niver wirked
in shoe shops agin.
"Bafore that there wuz only English spakint (speaking)
paople in the shops. Most a this wuz from down Maine, thin
Yankees that had bin a livint here, an the Irish, ant the
page 9.
Irish Americdns.
I remember one Jew laster though. He come from Russia
anthe had red whiskers an wore a tall hat ant carried a 06in
(cane).
A course all the niggerheads dintt come in at once.
Jest a couple shops tried 'em at first ant thin whin the othrs
seen how they 'irked si well, they got the Niggerhead Company
ta put 'em in their shops. So gradually laiki, the old hand
lasters that dintt take to thim madhaines got pushed out inta
the cold.
After the Lasterst Protective Union teen that the
machaines wuz acomint in all the shops itether they fought it
er not, they give in ant let the union min wirk on, en. But
by that tAtme a lotta the scabs had the regular jobs. Ant the
2500 hand lasters that wuz in Lynn thin kept dwendlint (dwindling)
down all the time. Now there taint moretn 200 if there 're
thet miny.
A#1 the United Shoe kept gettint strongertn stronger.
Kept improvint on that niggerhead so as ta kape (keep) gettint
new patents on it so they could kape control a it.
The United Shoe got sa strong there fir a tame that they
jest about run some a the shops. Their machainery be in 'em,
ya see, ant if any one a 'em tould be in danger a failimt up,
often tame the Niggerhead Company tould take it over ant the
min that wiz the owners before. tould run it fir the compiny
(company).
page 10.
I guess the first shop ta put the niggerhead in in Lynn
W$ Worthy. His shop wuz down on Market St., near the Narra Gage.
It wuz there that I seen the only rale (real) feightin' over it.
Four 'or fieve (five) union min had a feight with this that wuz
scabbint their jobs.
The niggerhead madhains an' the bed madhaine come in some
years befor the weltinv machaine. The first weltin' madhains
I seen wuz in '86 or '87.
*Ilhe strongest unions in Lynn ta fieght the madhaines
inn the Lasters Protective Union, but iven(even) it din't
succeed in stoppini the niggerhead.
After it wuz broke up, there come other unions, but none
of 'em 1414(sa strong as the Protective Union.
No)P4-ext afterwards come the Boot Shoe Workers Union an, after
that the United Shoe Workers of America. This one that they
have here in Lynn taday is joined up with the O. I. O.
SUPERSTITIONS AND AMBNA
Whin I wuz a little fella in Ireland on a rainy day,
At)6-
I ustairt by the hearth, reight inside the kitchen door, aloi7
with all the old min, an' miny's the tale they'd tell ya about
red haired vomin, an' ghosts ant fairies. Ya mighta hierd a
all a thin, I' an sure.
I niver seen my ghosts or fairies massif, but sometares
When I wuz a young man awalkint out of a neight (night) alone
whin it was dark an' misty all over the turf tags, I nights
thought I'd seen tem. Br (oo) maybe Vela thought I'd seen a
big black man or a black dog, that ralely (really) wuz the divil.
page 11.
I ain't scared of a cimitery (cemetery) in this country. But
in Ireland now it's diffrunt. There me an' every other body is
awfully Ifrnid a ghosts. No one 'ould thenk a stayint alone
in a house of a neight.
I always reminber *hat one a my five uncles told me, him
that 'us a twin, ant drove a cart all over Ireland
4'hat wuz before the railroads come in, an' stuff had a be drove
from one city to another in carts. My uncle wuz a driver on one
a thim carts. He seen lots a
are thongs on thim trips fir
sometames he' ould be gone from home two, three weeks at a tame.
Once he wuz a drivin' up to a home of 4a couple he kmowed
well They always got along flans, they did. But this tame, my
uncle noticed as he wuz goin, up ta the door, that a big black
dog had his nose liftinl the latch. YA know they had then kinda
latches that ye lifted up before ye opened the door.
Well that big black dog 'us a tryinl ta lift the latch
with his nose. My uncle walked up near him an said, 'Get away;
in a loud voice. An' the dog timed an looked at him, an'
then walked away liserly(leisurely)aike.
When my uncle went inside he seen the woman on a chair
aryl& an' whin he asked her what the trouble wuz she said What
she ant her husband had been afeightin.
*II guess we got the divil in us," said the woman to my
uncle. We atn't niver been afeightin' laike this baforel.
Bo ay uncle toad her about the dog and how he walked
away. I knowed it, "said the womin, lit wuz the divil in
the form a the dog, an' that 's why we been afeightin.
"My uncle said he believed it wuz too. Who else could
page 12.
it abin?
Another tame my uncle wuz a drivin by a big turf boi
a cartint place whore he wuz ta put up fir the night ant he
noticed a biliblack man afollowin' his cart. He said he wuzn't
an,
afraid none but he seen that the man followed him clare (clean)
up ta the place where he put the horse up, reight (right) up ta
the manger. While my uncle viz there at the manger, the fella
kicked the door.
If the big black man had been arty other body but a ghost,
ya'd knowed it 'cause the dogs from the place vouldabarked. Fir
dogs always barks whin strangers came arount'a place in Ireland.
But the dogs din't bark none at this black man.
'My uncle waited, and he bierd the kicks agin. This tame
he vuz scared so he claimbed (climbed) outa a winda and run ta
the kitchen door. He wuz sa scared he hadda set down. An' after
he got his supper he jumped inta bed ant he din't go back ta the
manger 1 till mornint.
Often other tames, my uncle said, his horse would jump
laike, 'cause he probably seen a ghost, an' if it wasn't that
the carts had trams like (a little shelf like arrangement) at
each end a the dart, they'd a tilted over, ant the weight a
thin lould a broke the horse's neck. That way, though the
tram'ould hit the ground and keep the heavy part a the cart
from got& over too fir (far).
Most a the cairts (carts) had cribs (a sort of wooden
frame) built up slaint (slant) ways on both sades (sides) a
the cairt too so it 'ould hold more. None a thim had but two
page 13.
whales (*heels) 7a know.
Mosta the firmers had thin kinda cairts to take their
stuff ta mairket (market) ta sell it.
My nnelq$ told me that oftin tames the ghosts wuz fallen
angels laike yatve read about in a Bible. He told me about tlee
fairies too. Most folks said fir Aartint there's fairies all over
A
Ireland. Ye mighta read somewhere about that.
Ye know the Danes built forts years ant years ago
on the top a hills ant on the top a each is a light that kin be
seen by the light on the fort on the next hill. That way signals
would be made from one ta another all over Ireland in case a a
enemy about ta come ta invade the land.
Down underneath in the center laike thereto fortifications,
an' there, it's claimed, the fairies stop. My uncle said he often
seen 'em at diffrunt tames in diffrunt places when he wuz adrivint
aroun Ireland.
There ts good an' bad omens in Ireland too. Ta meet a
horse and cairt is good luck.
But ta meet a red hired woman is bad luck. A firmer
with his cairt on way ta sell sometheng at mairket don't niver
laik(Oltte,ei (meet) a red haired vomin on the way. Some lould
tirn back an go agin another tame, 'stead a risk the bad luck
a maybe not sellint his stuff. Yes, a red haired womin acrossint
yer path is sometheng &elks a black cat in this country.
"But she ain't bad luck 'less she mates (meets) va on the
road. Anyways min laike herpfor she marries same as any other
body. Ant some thanks she's a mighty pretty wonan. I seen the
other day how there're all the rage in Washington taday. More
so'n the blondes.