LITTLE GRANDMOTHER’S SHOES

“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 tassel¹ 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 brook² 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 dreadful³! 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 attic⁴ 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 awl⁵; then the shoe was ready to sew.

“For his sewing he used a long waxed thread, with a stiff⁶ bristle⁷ 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.”

1 tassel   

n.流苏，穗；v.抽穗， （玉米）长穗须

参考例句：

• The corn has begun to tassel.玉米开始长出穗状雄花。
• There are blue tassels on my curtains.我的窗帘上有蓝色的流苏。

2 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

3 dreadful   

adj.糟透了的，极端的，可怕的，令人畏惧的

参考例句：

• I cannot imagine what to do in this dreadful situation.我不能想像在这么糟的情况下该怎么办。
• I must apologize for the dreadful mistake I made.我为我所犯的严重错误深表歉意。

4 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

5 awl   

n.尖钻

参考例句：

• Six awl make a shoemaker.六个鞋砧，练出一个鞋匠。
• It was fun to play with an awl.玩钻子是件很有趣的事。

6 stiff   

adj.严厉的，激烈的，硬的，僵直的，不灵活的

参考例句：

• There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。
• You have to push on the handle to turn it,becanse it's very stiff.手柄很不灵活，你必须用力推才能转动它。

7 bristle   

v.（毛发）直立，气势汹汹，发怒；n.硬毛发

参考例句：

• It has a short stumpy tail covered with bristles.它粗短的尾巴上鬃毛浓密。
• He bristled with indignation at the suggestion that he was racist.有人暗示他是个种族主义者，他对此十分恼火。