School: Garvagh

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1. Straight Lasts

   

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   In olden times there was no machinery for making boots. A local cobbler made boots for the neighbourhood but in those times children going to school seldom had boots even in winter. In many cases a boy had not a pair of boots until he was able to earn the price of them. The cobbler in those early times used a last very different from the last used by the present day cobbler. It was called a straight last and consisted of a piece of straight wood about three feet long slightly turned up at each end. One boot was made on each end of this straight last. It was somewhat like this (drawing) so that the toe was slightly turned up. The heel must have been finished after the boot was taken off the last. Boots made on a straight last were exactly similar so that when a man got a new pair of boots the right and the left boots were exactly the same and fitted either foot.
   An old man named Morrison lived in Gallonetra. There is no trace of his house now. He left an order with a local cobbler in the following poetic language.
   Make them both on one straight last,

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Edna Lindsay

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Tonyhull, Co. Cavan