Document text
Name Jane K. Leary
Informant John Healey
1 7
77/
Subject The Shoeworker of Lynn
HUMAN INTEREST SNAP SHOTS
//a 4 ta 7
si‘
"There wuz a shoe manufacturer I worked fur once that
sure wuz stubborn about changint the style a shoes he made.
II make shoes,' he said, !not all this fol de rol
that won't stand up.' This wuz about the time that the
findint a King Tut, made the whole world jest crazy ta
wear shoes like wuz on that olt guy when they dug him
outa his tomb.
"Well, everyone that knowed anything about the shoe
AP
business, knowied that the manufacturer tuld ha,fta put
out low fancy shoes, !stead a the good old long wearint
standard high shoes like we wuz usta makint. But
Patrick he dintt think so, ant he wuzntt goint
ta have his shop make tem.
"But his son now was diffrunt. He wuz in the shop
too ant he wantt afraid a change like his old man. So
when ever he could, he'd keep the old man outa the shop,
and held have us make the new kinda shoes while he wuz
gone.
"One day the old man come in and seen some a tem on
the racks.
0
"He growled pretty 1#ud at first but his son talked
turkey to him. Ant he give in completely when he seen
2.
the orders for them ,/ow shoes pourint in.
n1Suretn give 'em what they want,t he shouted, 'if
A
they only last 'em ten minutest'
3.
LOW SHOES ON A WOMAN
'She wears low shoes.'
"When ya heard that stria 'bout a woman in winter time
fifty years ago yatd think she was either crazy or kinda
immoral or maybe an actress.
"Streets muddy in them days there wuzn't many
sidewalks, ant a woman had to walk when she wuz goint down
town. She had to have somethint comfortable to wade
through mud with.
"If she had more money than ordinary an' rode behind
a fine pair, 'stead a welkin', why then' she most gennerally
had a pair a French kid shoes fur best.
"She'd a had them made special fur her at one a them
little shops that wuz still makint shoes by hand. She'd
stop an' leave her measurements when she ordered tem. That
wuz stylish to do then. If ya wuz somebody, ya had your
own special shoemaker jest like some men have their tailor
today."
4.
shOpl—therer-avnts--tlaree- seasons -4
In summer season we made shoes fur the southern niggers,
called the Southern Trade.
Them wuz made a heavy leather
and most always not even in pairs. Jest tied tagether in
twos ant dumped in a box fur shippint.
'After the southern trade wuz over, we started on the
yestern trade. That wuz a good heavy shoe too; but it
wuz made bettertn the shoe that went in tip southern
trade.
,IThe pick a the seasons wuz the New England trade.
Them wuz the most stylish shoes made, the shoes that wuz
sold in Boston, New York ant all the big cities. The
shops like ta make them shoes the best !cause there wuz
the most money in tem. Some a the shopedintt make nothint
A
else but most a 'em had ta make the other shoes too ta
keep goint ant ta keep the help, when the New England
trade wilt over.
4The biggest rush a the year wuz while we wuz making
the New England trade between the first a the year ant
Easter. Countt get no time off then 'less ya wanted to
get fired, soonts the season wuz over. We'd work till
after dark five days a week and right on up to five aclock
on Saturday nights. Once in a while if a fella or a girltd
5.
wanta go ta Boston on a Saturday night, they'd give ya
your pay early, say at four aclock._
a course, the more ya worked, the more yald get
too. So durint February ant March we sure put in long
hours. We always had all the work we could do in them
months.
the Fourth a July, the dull seasontd begin in the
New England trade. Then most a the shopstd start makint
shoes fur the Southern trade. That wuz the longest season
a the year. It lasted on inta the Fall apt the season
when some a the shops tuld be makint fur the Western trade.
Thanksgivint there wuz a dull season thattuld last
!till after Christmas.
6.
A DEAD HORSE
J
A dead horse wuz work ya got paid fur before ya
finished it. Say ia had a half a case done at the end
oF .10J wkolt
a the week. Well, ya could have the hull case put on
kis) 'a
the books as done, and yatd get your money fur it. But
5 J"
then on the next Monday mornint yald have that empty case
0 0
ta do, and no pay fur it. A dead horse sure looked dead
3
on Monday mornint.
4
one responsible fur gettial
"The foreman tuld be qua
ct,,,
the dead horses done, fur be wuz the one that let the
n
help give tem in, often unbeknowst ta the owner.
)4().
"A41 sometimes a worker, especially a cutter tuld
stin out, quit his job ant the foreman tuld be left with
a whopper of a dead horse ta explain. Ant say if that
vv?
dead horse wuz eight or ten cases, it tuld be considerable
ta explain.
woc
"If the foreman wuz the right kinda fella, though, we
always pitched in and done that dead horse for him. That
vvas
wuz a help ta us too fur if we dintt do that, the boss V
tuld likely come along ant say:
'There'll be no more dead horses in this shop from
now ono
0
"We'd do a lot ta prevent that 'cause dead horses
would be durn handy, when yotwanted ta buy somethint special
some week ant ya wuz short a cash.
7.
43
"But among the cutters there came ta be so durn many
that /rekum0 out on their dead horses, that they come
-10 rd.- uses
ta be pretty hard ta get. Fur cutters in the old days wuz
c)F-
(NS-
like the old class a printers.
Kind* hoboes. Here today
and gone ta morrow. They had the kinda trade that made it
A7 t°
easy fur 'em ta get a job quick, so they dinft have ta
stick ta one place any longerfn it suited tem. That made
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kind 4 tramps a tem.
NA_Is
"If your reputation wuz reliable though, ya could
always give in a dead horse. Many's the time done that
Vv2C
when I wuz short a change some week."