During the year that my fathers first batch of hides were going through the process of tanning, he began to accumulate all kinds of leather working tools and supplies that he would need in doing all kinds of leather work. First, he made himself a shoebench. This bench was about 18 X 36 inches and the height of an ordinary chair. It had spaces on top for the many different tools that are used in making shoes and other leather work. Those tools consisted of shoe hammer, paging awl, sewing awls, rulers, islet set, leather punch, and gauges and others too numerous to mention. It also had two drawers about twelve inches square and each drawer was divided into nine compartments in which he kept the many different sizes of shoe pegs, shoe nails and islets.
I have one of the old drawers in my possession which I used for many years in my electric work, and I also have his old leather clamp which was used for holding two pieces of leather together for sewing. All sewing was done by hand. We had no sewing machines in those days for sewing leather. For sewing he used long fiber-flax thread and would make what was called a "wax end." To make a good "wax end", he would take about six or more feet of thread and twist it backward until the fibers were straight and loose for several inches and then pull it apart so that the ends could be finished to an extremely fine point. These wax ends were made of two or three ply thread and were twisted together and then waxed with shoe wax. No needles were used, but instead of needles he used long hog bristles said to come from wild hogs. These bristles were very though and could be used many times before they were worn out. The bristles were attached to the thread around the bristle, beginning an inch back from the large end of the bristle. The bristles, shoe thread, shoe wax, shoe pegs, nails and just about everything that was needed in making shoes was bought from the D.A. Mims store which was managed by Charlie Mims at that time. He also bought all of his sole leather from the Mims store or the tannery in Eastport. At that time just about all shoes were put together with wooden pegs or nails. The "Good year welt" nor the leather sewing machine had neither been invented at that time.
In attaching the soles on the bottom of the shoes the wooden pegs were long enough to reach through both the sole and insole of the shoe and when the last was taken out of the shoe he used what was known as a "peg cutter" and cut all the points off the pegs that were sticking up through the insole until the insole was perfectly smooth. Father had all sizes of shoe lasts from about four inches long up to a No. 12 or larger. In those bygone days people didn't put shoes on their babies as soon as they were born. They dressed them in long dresses until they were several months old, and when they were about large enough to walk they knit bootees of wolen yarn to put on their feet when necessarv and when not necessarv they went barefoot. When a child was large enough to run around in the snowp the parents usually had shoes for him to wear when had to be outside or go visiting or to church. Speaking for myself I used to dispise to wear shoes any time it was warm enough to go barefoot. I would beg my parents to let me pull them off the first pretty sunshiny days in spring, but they would not allow it until corn planting time. I knew one little boy whose mother was poor that would get out and wade snow four or more inches deep and he never was sick. But the strangest thing happened when Father got sorry for him and made him a pair of shoes and mother knit him a pair of wollen socks. They put them on the boy and in less than three days he was sick and in bed. After that, every time they put his shoes back on he would get sick, and they had to give up and let him go barefoot. That boy is still alive today and is between 70 and 80 years old and raised a nice family and owns his own home. I do not know whether he remembers it or not, but if he does remember it I hope if he does remember it and reads this he will not think hard of me for writing about it, for it is nothing to be ashamed of.
I remember one teacher we had at the old log school house at Harneds who would make us take off our shoes if we wore them to school on a cold frosty morning in October. He said we made too much noise in the school room and bothered him too much.
Father made shoes for many people and several whole families. He made several styles of shoes. Brogans for the working man, high tops made of thin leather for Sunday wear, medium high for boys and girls every day wear. Knee high boots for those who wanted them, also saddle bags for the preachers and business men, also horse collars and harness for horses, and in fact, most anything made of leather he could make such as check lines riding bridles. About the only thing I ever learned to make out of leather was to cover a baseball made from the revelings of some old sock legs with a piece of rubber in the center of it. The demand for shoes was heaviest in the fall months from Sept. until Dec. and he would get so far behind with his orders for shoes that he would hire an extra shoemaker to help him. He would hire John Holt who was a son of a shoe maker who had a shoe shop in Parrottsville, and John had grown up in a shoe shop. When any one wanted a pair of shoes, Father would always measure their feet in order to get a perfect fit. He would get the exact length and then measure around the heel and instep and around the arch and instep, and around the widest part of the foot.
There was a family of a man and his wife and nine children who gave Father the contract to make shoes for the entire family. His name was William Rader and his wife's name was Sara. Most everyone called them Uncle Billy and Aunt Sara. In fact he was my wife's uncle and mine by marriage. Father measured all of their feet for the new shoes but forgot to ask him what style he wanted them made for each one of the family, so he sent word for Uncle Billy to come to the shop to find out how he wanted them made. So when he came in Father asked him what style he wanted for the different members of his family.
Uncle Billy said "I want my shoes made mens' shoes and the boys' shoes made boy shoes and the girls' shoes made girls' shoes. They are all alike. John Holt was at the shoe bench busy on a pair of shoes and heard all the conversation and being of a fun loving and devilish disposition looked-up and said "and the Sara shoes made Sara shoes." After Uncle Billy left, we all had a good laugh about it and some one asked John how he was going to make a pair of "Sara shoes" and he said, "I will just make her a pair of womans shoes.
I never could bring myself to take much interest in either the tanning or the leather working business. For some reason which I can not explain. I never did like to work sitting down. But I did love to walk across the backs of a pair of good mules with a plow handle in each hand.
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