In former times some people did not wear boots before they were twenty years of age. I heard of one man who got his first pair of boots when he was about 50 years old. Some of his neighbours admired his boots and he said " They are my first and they will be my last", because having worn them a few days his feet were terribly hurt from them. Up to this day we can hear the old saying " First and last like Connie Mullanes boots".
A great number of children go barefooted durning the summer months, but all of them now wear boots in the winter. It is an old custom to throw out feet water, more especially when one washes his feet at night. It is an old belief