The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-12-01
a" Yes, wall, he ains to home"

He's gone TO Sonose."
when will he be.back, if you please
avail, cant say for sartain. Next week o.
week after-leastwise fore the fair. Got
job?"
:" Yes, sir, but can't very well wait so long
Do you know of any shoemakers anywhere
! about F"
avail, ma'am, I do know as / do. Folks i
mostly farmers here. There's Fuller, just moved
though. Come up from Exton yesterday. Prapi
he'll give you a lift. That's his house righ
down there 'Tant more'n half a mile"
Eyes, sir, see it. Thank you"
! Individual descends from her precarious ele
| walton, and marches to the attack of Fuller. A
! fresh-faced, good-natured looking man is JUS
/ coming out at the gate. His pleasant coun
tenance captivates her at once, and, with silen
but intense hope that he may be the shoemaker
she asks if I" Mr.. Fuller lives here?"
! "Well, replies the man, in an easy, drawing
tone, that harmonizes admirably with his face
"when fellow is moving, he can't be said to
live anywhere. guess he'll live here, though
as soon as the stove gets up"
reciprocated his frankness with an enga-
cling smile, and asked, in a confidential tone,
do you suppose he would mend shoe for
me?"
thought l would begin with shoe, and, il
found him acquiescent, would mount grad
ualy TO a boot, then to pair. But my little
subterfuge was water spilled on the ground
81 don't know whether he would or not, but
know one thing"
"Yes?"
Couldn't if he wanted to. Amt got his tools
here. They amt come up yet"
"Oh is that all ?"
"AH?"
eyes because, if you know how, shouldn't
think it would make so much difference about
the tools. Couldn't you borrow a gimlet or
something from the neighbors ?"
:" A GMLET !?
ayes, or whatever you want, to make shoes
with"
An awl, you mean"
"Well, yes, an awl. Couldn't you borrow an
awl?"
mary awl"
"When will your tools come ?"
"Well, don't know; you see | don't hurry
'em up, because its haying, and 1 and my men,
we'd just as Geves work out of doors part OF
the time as not. We don't mend shoes much.
We make 'em mostly"
"Ohl that's better still; would you make
me pair?"
Well, we don't do that kind of work. We
work for the dealers. We make the shoes that
they send down South for the niggers. We
amt got the lasts that would do for you"
Individual goes home, as Chaucer says, I" in
doleful dumps and determines to take the
boots under her own supervision. First, she
inks over all the gray parts. Then she takes
some sealing-wax, and sticks down all the bits
of cuticle torn up. Then, in lieu of anything
better, she takes some white hannelsilk, not
embroidery-silk, you understand, but flannel
silk, harder twisted and stronger, such as is to
- 4. Il l.
ton, and Herewith endeavors to sew down the
cured sole to its appropriate sphere, or, rather,
plane. 1t is not the most easy or the most
agreeable work in the world How ever people
manage to make shoes, l cannot divine, for, of
all awkward things to get hold of and to
handle and manage after you've got hold, l
think shoe is the worst. The place where
you put a needle in doesn't seem to hold the
most distant relation to the place where it comes
out You set 1t where you want it to go, and
then proceed, "a ct arms ct thimble, to "put
her through" but she resists your armed inter
vention. Then you rest the head of the needle
against the window-sill, and push. You feel
something move. Everything is going on and
. IN delightfully."-. Mind asserts its control over
matter. You pause to examine. In? Yes,
headdeep in the pine-wood, but the point not
an inch further in the shoe. You pull out.
doesn't come out of the window-sll. You pull
the silk, and break it, and then work the needle
out as well as you can, and then begin again
destroying three needles, getting your fingers
" exquisitely pricked," and keeping your tenn
per-if you can.
BY some sHch process did the individual, a
passage of whose biography | am now giving
you, endeavor toe repair the ravages of time
and toll In so far as she succesdsd- it -sfAssse
pam, ner efforts may be said to have been
crowned with success. 1t is but fair to add,
however, that the result did not inspire her with
so much confidence but that she determined to
lay by the boots for a while, reserving them for
such times as they should be most needed, with
vague hope also that rest might exercise some
wonderful recuperative power
About five days after this, they were again
brought out, to do duty on a long walk. The
event was most mournful. The flannel silk
gave way at the first fire. The soles rolled
themselves up again in most uncomfortable
manner. AT every step, the foot had to be put
forward, placed lightly on the ground, and then
drawn back. The walk was an agony. 1t so
happened that on our return, without any in
tenuon, we came out of the woods in the i'm
mediate vicinity of the shoemaker's aforesaid,
and the individual was quite sure she heard
the sound of his hammer. She remembered,
that when she was young she was familiar with
certain wardrobe" which was generally SO
bulging-full of clothes, that the doors could not
by any talr straightforward means, be shut !;
but II you sprang upon them suddenly, taking
them unawares, as it were, and when they were
oil their guard, you could sometimes effect
closure. She determined to try this plan ON
the shoemaker. SO she babe the rest of the
party so on, while she switched off in the d.
rection OF the hammering. She went straight
INTO the shop, without knocking, the door being
agar. There he was at it, sure enough
Your tools have comet" she exclaimed.
with ill-concealed exultation. "Now, will YOU
mend my shoes?"
Well, | don't know as / can, hardly. I'm
pretty much in hurry. What, with moving
and haying I've got little behindhand."
On but you must mend them, because |
am going up on the mountain tomorrow, and
l have no others to wear, and am afraid of
the snakes; SO you see, you must"
" Got EN- here ?"
Individual furtively shoves off the best one,
ana picks 1t up-while his eyes are bent on his
workIas II she had only dropped it, and hands
knocks it, with an evident intention Of under.
standing the subject thoroughly.
Rather a haggard looking boot" he re-.
marks, after his close survey.
les, put Sentence unfinished.
Other amt so bad, suppose ?"
Well-I-don't know-that is -
Both bad enough"
Yes, indeed, with an uneasy laugh.
Let's see the other one" The other one
Is produced and examined in silence.
Are goa going to wear them boots up the
mountain 2" with tone that said very plain
ly, . of course you're not"
Why, yes, acas going to wear them. Don't
you think they will do ?'
" | wouldn't trust my feet in EN-"