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ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Check one)
PUB. Livinit. Lore in
New Entlend
TITLE Shoe Laster of Lynn #‘2....
WRITER Jane K. Leary
DATE 4/14/39 /IDS'
PP. 9
CHECKER DATE
SOURCWOIVEV(?)...interView James gpige,p_
COMMENTS
VI
Page 1.
a:
JOne K. Leary
Liting Lore
James Hughes, Lynn Shoe Laster
4/18/.39
*Whin I inn a boiy (boy) in Ireland I usta go over a cartin
(certain) stile ta go along the road ta school. I'd pass by a
little shop thieye *her. (they'd) made shoes by hand. Minfs
the day I'd stop there an' bafore I knowed it, I could make a
wax ind (end). I usta watch em last a shot too. How else*
they'd put in thin nails.
*I wint back ta Ireland ta visit after I bin here five
years, ant I wint back over thet stile agin ta that old shop.
'Twas still standinl. I showed tem thin jest how thiey lasted
a sho# in America. They put the tacks in too close. I showed
lem how ta save the half a the tacks.
They made hob nail shots there. That vas bacause
at miny a the shoes wuz made fir flamers (farmers) an' thiay
(they) had ta walk over rough roads ant if the shots vuzn't
4>
hob nailed, they wun't wear there pall. The roads wuz good
enough in a ways but they wuzn't what they are taday, fir
lverybody hadda pay fir 'em thin, the firmers an' ivory other
body.
*.I usta laike (like) ta watch the tailors too. Thiey'd
(they'd) make a suit ta order fir $20 an' the same fir a over-
coat with a vaelvet (velvet) collar. But that wuz elegant
goods ant the collar wuz elegant too. Data coat $24 er $3 ta
hove (have) a new vaelvet collar put on whin the old one acre
out.
page 2.
They wfte this vaelvet collars in Lynn at thet (that)
tame. An! most ivory (every) one a us thet could, !ottld
hove (have) a white vest or a tan one, &al a tall hat an! cain.
(cane). I always heda (had) a white vest.
An' about thet tame, the congress shoes wus all the rage.
They had took the place a this tall boots that min usta wear
fir dress. They hed (had) looked nice though, this tall boots
thet come half way up the leg. Yald be somebody sure whin they
wuz all shained up. But what a job it wuz ta get this off. Most
a !ea come with a jack in the back so as ya could ketch one foot
on it ta push the othern off.
.11.0
The Congress shoIheda nice welt. an! they dinit cost
moren
The girls !ould look nice too. Thied hove this high
collars that 'ould stand stiff laike around tbler neck, an!
the tieght (tight) waists an! the long skairts (stirts).
An! thiey (they) wore this big hiata (hats) thin that set
hiegh (high) on top a thier heads an! hod this big feathers
on em. Gainsborough Hats thby dolled 'em. !an the hiegh,
(high) laced boots thet the laidies (ladies) wore in this daysl
We usta all mate (meet) dawn on Nairket St. (Market)
and stairt from where City Hall stands now, an! walk down an!
aroun! up Union St. ta where the Paramount Theatre is astandin!
now. Sometames wed go down ta the bache (beach) too an! walk
along there. Wahant St. where all this fiene houses is. Looked
about the same thin as it does taday.
page 3.
Long about nane (nine) o'clock though, the streets
lould be empty (empty) fir mosta us lould go home.
Fir a spacial (special) trate (treat) there'd ba (be)
the summer picnics. or the fair thet the Lasters' Aid Socaity
(Society) tould put on ivery wenter, or a stage show in the
'theatre that wuz where the Waldorf movie place is taday. Thin
too, the diffrunt socaities held dances in Exchange Hall and
in Odd Fella's Hall (Fellows). They had a spring floor in
Exchange Hall, an' they danced the ol fashioned dances thin.
Spacial wuz the Easter Monday Ball there. The womin
looked nice all rioght with trains on thier dresses. They
wuz all atryinl ta be the bell a the ball. Iverybody wint and
iverybody dressed in the best thiery could fir the Easter
Monday Ball.
An we always had a faine (fine) tame at the coffee
pairties over in St. Mary's school fall. Father Strain wuz
priest here thin ant everybody loved him. I remimber how he
always hod a lotta chickens. Ant dogs too. An' he liked horses
and ta ride horse back.
*There wuzn't miny Catholics in Lynn thin ant St. Mary
wuz the only big Catholic Church aroun' here thin. Father
Strain usta ride horseback ta Nahant an' ehelsea ta say Mass,
well as take care a the Catholics in this pace.
"Well, at the Ooffee pairties we usta have a lotta fun.
There'd be coffe an' cake ant ice crame (cream). An' What
crowds.
page 4.
I remimber one tame I wuz pushed so by the crowds that one a
my feet got in an ice crame (cream) can up ta ma knay (knee.)
How everybody laughedl What a tame we always hadl An a big crowdl\
"An' what a crowd at the Laster's picnics. There's be a
dpacial train ta take us ta a lake er Grove. Sometames it' ould
be at Lake Waldron, somewheres near Worcester. Ant sometames
4.114,111.4 thied (they'd) be at Highland Lake er Centennial Grove,
gnats (quite)a distance outa Boston. Sometames there'd be
tin er fifteen cars ta the train, sa miny paople'd go.
"The train 'ould lave (leave) aroun sivin (seven) er
eight of a mornint an, stay all idiay. Thin oft tames thiey'd
ba (be) a noon train fir thim as coun't go in the mornin'.
"Thiey'd be a parade ta the train. The lasters' ould
all come out fir it in their white vests an' carrTinl. thier
cams an awearinl thier tall hiats. Ladin (leading) 'ould
be the Lynn Cadet Brass Band fir thied (they'd) go along ta
play fir the dancint at the picnics. An what a tame at the
station bafore gettin' in the train. Meetint the lasters
there 'ould be the girls, ant the womin an' the families.
Paople'd come from way off sometames ta go to the
picnics. There wuz always a lotta professional runners ta
enter the male (mile) race, for they give t100 prize fir
thet.
"There wuz other contests jest fir the lasters too.
An' iverbody liked the dances, the polka, the faive step
schottish ant the minuet.
"Ant the thengs ta ate ould be nice too, the ham
ant chicken an tonic.
Page 5.
The Lowell Picnic
"Jest laike the laster's 'ould go some distance away from
Lynn fir thbr picnic ivery summer, so'd thim thet wirked in the
mills at Lowell, 'ould come down ta the Lynn bache (beach) fir
their picnic.
"Whiniver we could, we'd steal away from mirk ta go ta
thim. They wuz run a good deal laike the Lasterl4Picnic but
we in Lynn we usta call tim 'The annual wash; That wuz bacause
mosta thim mill wirkers niver got ta the bache except at thet
picnic. Ant they spent a good parts the day in the water or
asettin' on the bache. Thiey sure got birnt.
The lasters' union always held a fiene (fine) fair in
the wenter too. There'd be good show, an' singin'
ant all sech things as that. The shows was sota laike
vaudeville, an' good ones too.
Parades wuz grate (great) thengs in thim diays (days).
Besiades (besides) the one the Lasters' ould always heve.
there'd be one sometames by the Odd Fellas (fellows). ant
the Masons that wuz sa strong thin. The Knights a Columbus
'ould hold im too an' they all looked fiane (fine) in
their plumes an' uniforms.
"Laike I told ya before, Lynn wuz a lott diffrunt
in the tm-diays whin I first come here. There wuzn't no
screens on windas thin, only nettint on some. An' sometames
paopleld heve some nettin, in door ways an! sometames they
wun't. I remimber the black flies ant the masquitos. Whin
an' (lanai& I
we'd get in bed ta niaght, pretty soon we'd hear that
Whizzzzz. Thin up we'd get an' light the lamp fir there wuz
no electricIlights in thim diays either.
Page 6.
"An' if ya wanted a drink a water ya hedda go to the
YY\
pupp in the back yard fir it. But some folks hod a pump in
the kitchen. The paople I lived with hod one of thim.
The Lynn Fire
Ivory body wuz excited the tame a the great Lynn fire.
Parta the diay I wuz on the roof a the shop I wuz aworkint
in tryin ta kape it from gettint afire. We had pails a water
coolint it off. The hate (heat) comint down Union St. wuz
something terrible.
That afternoon me and a few others wuz halpint pack
up shoes in a store in Monroe St. to take 'em up ta a place
on Mairket St. fir folks din't know how fir the fire 'ould
go.Afterwards the man that owned the store took us all to
supper at the Winthrop hotel.
"Fir as I know no one birned up in that fire. Lucky
5
it Itarted in the daytame or it mighta bin worse. As was,
itwint from Blake St. down ta the depot, an' down Washington
St. towards the bache. All lower Washington St. wuz birnt
terrible. Got inta the coal wharves ard it took a wake (week)
ta put thet out.
"But it wuzn't long before iverthent wuz built up agin.
44mt-the machaines is chaper ta run thin it is piay
SOL miny min ta do the same wirk. A machaina don't havpa
eat, ya know.
Page 7.
IThe machaines has put min outa yirk, there's no doubt a
thet. It's the same in all industries, same as the shoe bus-
iness. It's claimed 10 er 12 million mints outa wirk in
America taday. Thet's a lot.
I don't know what thengs is acomin' too, ralely I don't.
It's 4rtin Lynn's on the bum firiver. An' I guess that's the
way it is in most places taday.machaines has took therplaces
a the min.
Durin' the war though, shoe business wuz good. A lotta
the min went ta war, ya see, and that took up a good deal a
the slack made by the machaines. But whin they come back, hhey
wuz out fir good, most a thim.
There's a lotta raisons why the shoe business is on the
bum in Lynn, basides the machaines though. Ya see, sa miny
a the shops 'ould move to other towns that 'ould give 'em
free rint and where they could get labor fir little er nothint.
Why three, four years ago, din't a town from this state send
down trucks ta move one plant fir nothin, only the union stopped
'em doin' that.
"Ya maighta reminbered thim buildings that wuz jest opposite
the Narra Gage a coupla years ago. Well, they charged high rint,
so the shops moved and now there all tore down. An ya know the
Vamp building down near there. That ghtt doine nothiai. needs
a few diffrunt thengs underneath but the half of the top is
empty.
It's part a the fault a the owners a the shops. Thiey
charged too high rint. Why some a 'em aven charged fir the
amount of winda space. Why one big shop I knowed of, paid
Page S.
arounl $25.000 a year rint.
So ya see it lould pay a concern ta move sometames,
whin they could get rint free. An the laber fir little er
nothin.
A lotta the manfacturers wuz min that come up from
the bench. One of thim wuz Welch of Welch Landrigan who
made moreln a million dollars. Thiey put out a fairly chapel
(cheap) shoe an' it wint good.
The worst crime a thim days wuz whin Landrigan got
shot by one of thim foreigners whin he an' a policeman wuz
bringinl the payroll. The policeman wuz shot at too, but
thiey din't kill him.
But thiey got 'em bafore they got outa Lynn. Ya see
in thim diays thiey din't have no automobiles ready ta jump
into, and thin steal another an thin another automobile until
thiey'd get miles away. They wuz foreigners; it wuz on the
borders of Russia Where thieyld lived bafore thiey come here.
"After thet Welch kept on at the shop an' he made a
lotta money. He wuz purty shrewd and he wuz no spendthrift
He wuz not that kand (kind). Indade (Indeed) they din't go
down Nahant st. ta live after he'd made his million. Indade
not; it wuz on the highlands, thiey lived aven after they got
all that money.
Welch, before he started makinl shoes with Landrigan,
wuz a laster the same as I. He run fir business agent a the
lasters an' whin he got defeated he wint in tibh Landrigan
ta make shoes.
Page 9.
There wuz nothin stuck up about Landrigan. Very socaible
(sociable) with the min. He'd hove a glass a beer with
inybody. He started in business with Welch in a place on
Pleasant St. But their shop wuz on Willow St. Whin he got shot.