“But, Grandmother,” said little May, holding up the tiny pair of calf-skin shoes, “were these your very best shoes? Didn’t you have any shiny black ones, with a tassel on, like mine?
Girl with grandmother

“And where did you buy them, Grandmother? Did Columbus bring them with him in his ship?”

“No, dear; Columbus didn’t bring Grandma’s shoes in his ship. He sailed back to Spain again three hundred years before these shoes were made.

“Bring your chair and sit down by me. I will tell you all about these little worn-out shoes of mine.

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“When I was a little girl,” began Grandmother, “children did not wear shoes all the time. They went barefoot in the summer, except when they were dressed up. One pair of shoes had to last a whole year.

“When we went to church we used to go barefoot, carrying our shoes in our hands. At the foot of the hill we washed our feet in the brook and put on our shoes and stockings.

“Our shoes did not wear out very fast; and if we lost a shoe, we had to go barefoot till the shoemaker came again.”

“Oh, dear!” sighed May, “how dreadful! Who was the shoemaker, Grandmother, and when did he come?”

“The shoemaker,” Grandmother replied, “was a very important man when I was a little girl. ‘Shoe week’ was a busy week in the family.

“I can remember how glad we all were when father said, ‘The shoemaker will be here to-morrow.’

“That night the shoe bench was brought down fromdecoration32decoration the attic and placed in a warm corner of the kitchen.

“Father and mother made a list of the shoes that were needed. We children talked about our new shoes and the shoemaker until we fell asleep.

“Early in the morning the shoemaker appeared. He carried his bag of tools and a roll of leather on his back. By seven o’clock he was seated at his bench, hard at work.

“We children used to sit on the floor beside him and watch him work. First he measured our feet and drew some paper patterns. Then he cut out the leather.

“He punched holes along the edges of the leather with a sharp awl; then the shoe was ready to sew.

“For his sewing he used a long waxed thread, with a stiff bristle at each end for a needle. All day long he would sit at his bench, putting the needles into the holes and pulling the thread through, till the shoe was sewed firmly.

“When all our shoes were made, he packed his bag and said good-by for another year.”