Document text
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Check one)
PUB. Livint Lore in
Newftgland
TITLE Shoe iattitr o 'NM #2
WRITER Jane K. Leary
2 pppers
DATE 4128/29 WDS, PP. lop. and
8 pp.
CHECKER DATE
souRm GWEN (1) interviews
COMMENTS
2.
Lc The walls of a mud wall house were made by plastering layers
of clay and straw together.
"'Ye hadda let it dry good, ivery tame ya put on a layer a mud
an' straw. For thet raison ya couldn't maike (make) a mud wall
house in the winter tame because it wuz sa rainy. YA hedda maike
it in the summer.
"The walls 'ould sametames ba(be) two fate (feet) thick. It.
wuz warm in winter an' cool in summer. The inside fauld ba white-
washed, an the outside tould have rough piples (pebbles) spread on
it laike, and thin whitewashed. It was file pr7itty, a mud wall
house, whin it wuz maide (made) raight.
"Ya maighta seen the same theng at the Lynn Bache (beach) house.
A mud wall house looked laike thet on the outside.
"The rooms inside tould ba large. The windows lauld ba laike
thim we heve here only not sa large, the casin' lould ba the same.
Ant the doors tould ba put on the casin' the same wiay.
"Most a the mud wall houses tould jest ba one story, but the
stone an' slated houses tould ba two stories.
"But the mud walls houses wuz rile pratty. Thiey'd ba all
kands a flowers, bag rose bushes, ant apple ant pear trees in the
yiard (yard).
"Some a the rich paople tould make a nice giarden (garden).
They maight use as much as a half acre a land. ThIO-rld ba goose-
berries an wild strawberries. Din't thiey tiaste lovely, thim
strawberries thet growed in the white thrown 1-44-tiae-griart-er-bittseyrr---
ditches? The white thorn ditches, ya know, wuz the fences arount
mosta the fields.
3.
"Thiey wuz elegant. thim strawberries. Ant wuz tejr plinty
a blackberries. But ya know neither us or iry other body would
iver tiaste thtm in thIm diays because it wuz claimed the Divil
shook his club foot on thim. That wuz a superstition a the nicople
thin. They blaved (believed) it too.
"I seen the blackberries sa thick. What beautiful jam thier
coulda bin made of tem. But ya know the paople only tried ta get
rid a all the briars. Taday they ship the berries ta Angland, but
thin, they wuznft thought no.good atall.
"Ivory house in the country thier had a buttery. Thet wuz a
little room walled off 1Tatwan (between) the rooms ta ke:pe.(keep)
the butter ant the milk in.
4.
More About Ghosts
"I read in the paper about another ghost thet wuz seen in
Ireland jest awhile ago.
"A young girl, it sames, wuz carryin' in a basket a turf fir
the naight whin she happined ta look up a hill ant saw a laight
tier b-atwin two rocks. She called hir folks an' thiey said a
ghost put it thiere. It come back the next naight too ant ming
naights after thet. Paople come from all over Ireland ta see it.
"I oftin heard other stories too. It's claimed thet whin
St. Patrick wuz buildinl his first church there usta bi a bull ta
tear down his wirk ivory naight. But St. Patripk couldn't ketch
him. So one niight he set up watchint fir 4m with a Bishop's
staff an' whin the bull came he give him sech a whack thet he
_
knocked him fieve Miles (miles). An thier, fieve males from the
place where St. Patrick knocked him ya kin still see the miarks a
the bull's knees where he fell on a rock. I seen 'em once maself
whin I wuz thier.
"An did ya iver know why roosters /liver crow in three town
lands in County Down in Ireland? Thetis an antristint (interesting)
let
tale. It sames thet St. Patrick usta go from towAland (village of
from twenty to thirty farm homes) ta townland, aorta iiike a
pilgrim. Whin he found some one ta welcome him at naight, he'd
spind (spend) the naight thier. But he alviays got up an' wint
awiay at the first crow a the cock. Thet wuz usually arounl twelve
a' clock.
5.
"Well, one naight he couldn't find no place ta spind the
naight. He went to two diffrunt townlands an' no one asked him
ta staiy the right. Whin he come ta the, thrid townland, some
one there asked him, but they didn't raely want him, fir thiey
sint thier (goy ta roost with the cocks ant told him ta crow ba-
fore twelve afclock sa as St. Patrick fould lave (leave) early.,
"Well, St. Patrick, whin he heard thet crow sa early, prayed
thet the 4c thet crowed bafore twelve atclock fould fall an'
break his neck, ant he priayed too that their river 'would another
cock crow in thim three townlands.
"Well, the bioy fell ant broke his neck, jest accordinl ta
St. Patrick's priayer, an' ta this diay thier never has bin a
cock crowed in thim three townlands. If ya go their aven taday,
enybody111 tell ya about that.
More About Ireland.
/r, 744-.447
c/7
1.
"In Ireland the firms(farms)wuz more apairt (apart) than they
aire (are) an thet tould make it awful diark (dark) of a naight
(night). But we usta gp of a naight from one house to another
ta dance. It wuz nice.
"There wuz the four point reels an' the three point reels, and
the polkas. Fir music some one er another tould play the violin,
the accordion, the concertina, the flute er the fife. It wuz
nice, I laiked music but no, I niver plaiyed; (played) it maself.
"When I wuz twinty years and six months it was Sherry (his
brother-in-law some years later) who made me taike (take the notion
ta come ta America. After I come here, I got homesick fir a tame,
but I soon got over it.
"It wuz Sherry's uncle, P.P. Sherry, that give me a job larnin'
ta last, in his shop after I come here. It was him that fired
us both though after a coupla years later, whin we joined the
union fir as I told ya before, he wun't heve no union min in his
shop. He aven fired his nephew fir joinin.
"He give me the job bacause a Sherry in tiie first place an'
bacause he knew my uncle in Ireland. He come from the same place
too, ya say (see)
"After I got fired from Sherry's shop I wint ta aborn ant there
I wirked until I'd bin here five years and thin I wint hams ta
visit.
-.2
"Whin I come back I wirked in diffrunt shops. I wuz at
Donovans fir about five years ant at Little's fir about five years.
The Old Hand Lasters
44In an old tame shoe shop where there wuz all hand lasters, there
miaghta vin as miny as 100 lasters. Now thier'd only 1:;-a- about 8
macnine lasters to do the amount a wirk. Thiey'd all 15a7
seated in a bag (big) circle, an.' other min sated (seated) in the
center tould lay the soles. Thieyld be all kands (kinds) a
c4st )fr
Anglish (English) spakint'paople. Some tould bajrish,American
Stotchmen, er from Nova Scotia. There wuz only a few Jews whin
T stiarted workinl.
44 Whin I first stiarted (started ta wirk in the shops,we wirked
10 hours a diay, fir fieve diays a wake (week), ant on Saturdiays
we wirked 'till four a'clock.
Thei.e wuz plinty (plenty a wirk in
all the shops thin. An' if fir some raison ya din't laike yer
wirk in one shop, all ya hed ta do, wuz ta go ta another the next
diay. Fir all the shops lould heve a sign out in thim days,
ILasters Wanted'. Thiey wuz baggin' fir min in thin diays.
We usta pliay (play) a lbtta jokes on ach (each) other in the
shops. One in particular wuz ta put palate (paste) under the toe
a the shoe jack, and whin a fellald come ta last a shoe he'd get
his finger full a paste. Some 'ould get as miad (mad) as the
dickens over thet and thin a course, he get it done ta him oftin.
(often).
"If ya did wirk that wuzn't jest raight, ya'd have ta pay fir
it if it wuz your fault. If it wuzn't ua wunit heve ta pay fir
-3
it. I aven got pay fir some once thet hedda be thrownd out,
because the vamps wuz stitched too close an' the skivin wuz too
then (thin). That made 'em pull out whin we pulled 'em over the
last. The boss told me to tirn (turn) in my tame on thet wirk.
Special Occasions that all Shoeworkers Remember
0 There wiz a number a spacial tames in Lynn in the past that
all a us old tame shoemakers well remimber.
"One was the sootint a the shoe boss, Landrigan, that I told ya
about before. We all remimber thet, I guess bacause there wuzn't
miny shootin's like ther is taday. I often thenk that' the raison
there's sa much crime taday is because ther's sa little fir a
fella ta do. If mOsta thin young fellas tha takes ta crim+sdda
a good steady job, they wun't get inta so much trouble.
Another tame that we all remimber was Fhin the bioys wint off
ta war. We'd git off from the shops ta see the parades and to
cheer tem. Miny come back ta the bench with a tear in his eye,
spacially if he had a bioy agoint.
64 Whin they come back there wuz great excitement all about. My,
the parades, an' the bells aringin, and the hearts asingin' by
thin thet had their bioys come back safe. Some a 'em was sad
though, thin thet hedda &Id star in their winda. Thet mint
(meant) that a bioy had deiyed (died) in the war.
40 There wuz a lotta excitement whin we heard about the Armistice.
Down on Blossom St. where the Jews lived, some of thin old fellas
was walkin, ontthe strates (streets) with opin Bibles in their
hands. All the shops wuz abet down. I niver seen the paople
sa crazy. Paper thet thi* fine paper, confetti was aflying in
all directions. Boston wuz crazy. A lotta us wint there. I'll
niver forgit it.
-5-
t4Another grate tame wuz whin Dewey came bank to Boston after
his victory. Paople lined the strates (streets) so ya coun't
see nothinl Everytheng wuz goin,.
“Ant thin another grate tame thet we all remimber wuz thin thet
woman come ta Lynn from thet city a Lynn in England. That wuz
whin Lynn wuz 300 years old. 1929 I thenk it wuz. (In 1929
44. 4 Jril 1,2,3, an14,its tercentenaby. The guest of honor was
the Most Honorable Marchioness Gwladys Townshend of Raynham,
Mayor of King's Lynn, England, and her son, The Most Honorable
Joseph George Patrick Dominick, Marquis of Townsend.)
-"T wuz close to he:' as she wint up city hall steps one of thim
diays. She was a faine woman all riaght. There was a big
parade an, miny fiane doin's. Mayor Bauer wuz Mayor of Lynn thin.
"Yes, ther wuz lots a good tames, whin we wuz workin all the
tame steady.
lotta the min usta pliay cirds (cards) at noon in the shops.
One a the best games wuzn Shoemaker's Lou. It wuz played with
fieve (five) cirds (cards) an' four in the kitty. It wuz a
fast game an, ya sure could lose a lot if ya din't watch out. An'
if ya,d take the kitty and thin get lou'd fir all thet, yald sure
lose a lot.
4There hasn't bein much a thet played fir 35 years though.
"Today they heve Christmas pairties in the shops ta entert4in
4
the wirkers but in my diay they din't. Folks din't make sa
much a Christmas thin as they do now. Why in the rale (real)
old diays in Lynn bafore anybody but the Yankees wuz here, they
dinit celebrate Christmas atall. They thought it wuz wrong, I
guess.
In the old diays they usta celebrate St.Patrick's Diay in
the shops. One tame old Billy Connery, him that wuz the father
of Congressman Billy who deiyed (died) a couple years ago, come
in the shop ant plaiyed the violin. Ther wuz dancint an'
refreshments.
That wuz bafore Connery go ta 15-87 Mayor. He wuz in the
coal business, ant the kand (kind) a man he *uz, he would niver
push inybody, so he dinft make as much as he coulda. But
iverbody loved him. He wuz aAtemperance man.
The General Lockout
"Long about 1917 there wuz a gineral lockout in the shoe shops
a Lynn. We wiz all locked out.
‘4But the war stopped it. They wuz gonna freeze us down to
nothinf, wuz gonna freeze out the unions. But the war come along
and that made a demand fir shoes and so they hedda opin their
doors agin.
There wuz a lotta other strikes too, but we'd go out in
diffrunt bunches. First one lould go out and thin another, one
at a tame. Most a thin strikes wuz lost though.
-7
He Nearly Became an Irish Farmer.
"About 33 years ago, my uncle, him that wuz the twin ant toll
me about the fiaries ant the devils in Ireland, wrote me that if
I come back ta Ireland ta live,I could heve the firm for my own.
He wuz close ta flinty thin, and he knew he wuz goint ta deiy
(die) soon. He wuz the last alive of all of tem.
"It wuz a nice firm all raight, but it wuz hiard wirk as I well
remimber about whin I wuz a boiy there awirkirp on it. But I
miaghta gone, but my wife dintt want to. She growed up here,
ant she wuz used ta this country. So we dintt go.
"She deiyed (died) whin my youngest child wuz only a year ant
a half. It was hiard wirk, ta bring 'em up myself, ant I hed
ta board 'em out some. I bed to, but it hiarts (hurts) a man
ta do thet. I usta taike 'em good fraish (fresh) aggs (eggs)
though, oftim so they would heve plinty ta ate (eat).
"I married agin later though and she thet is my wife taday
brought 'em up faine. It wuz her brother, Mr. Sherry, that
first give me the notion ta come ta America. He wuz here
first, ant thin I come. After a while his sister come too ant
his mother. She wuz ant old lady whin she come, ant a flame
woman she wuz too."
My informant pointed out a large picture of a strong kind
face, with severe middle part hair dress, that hung above the
sofa where he sat. Testifying to the affection in whinh she
was held in this family, was the fact that this was the only
-8-
44,1,1, Aheve no wirk atall.
"We usta get up at 6 A.M.
picture in the room.
"Thiere she is," he said.
More About Unions
"After the Lasters Protective Union wuz disbanded, the lasters
begun ta join the United Shoe Workers a America. An' after thet
Union there wuz the Boot and Shoe Union and thin the Amalgamated
Union.
"But the machinest had cane in, and none of thim unions wuz
strong enough too breng back the hand lasters ta most a the shops.
It wuz niver the same as it wuz whin the Laster' Protective Union
wuz sa strong.
"Ant it took money ta balong. The Boot ant shoe wirkers Union
had dues a thirty fieve cints (cents) a week.
"But taike ita all in all, there wuz pretty steady wirk bifore
the ware We din't get war tame wages, jest between 418-$20 a
week, but it wuz ragular. Dunn' the war the prices wint way up,
sometames as high as fiarty (forty) en fifty en sixty dollars a
week. But whin the war wuz over ant the depression come, ;tiny a,
4
At least I did whin I lived at
Wakefield, bacause we hed to b (be) at wirk at siven (seven I'd
come in from Wakefield on the electric cars. I'd get a ten ride
ticket fir fifty cints. Now it costs thirty cints to go ta
Wakefield one way.