Word: leathered
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Most trains consist of six cars; the first car has a roped-off section for children, invalids and pregnant women. Seats, which run down the side of the cars, are upholstered with brown leather. There is no straphanging: standing passengers hold on to bars. The cars are bright, clean and semi-soundproofed, so that conversation is possible. But there are no wall ads to entertain or annoy the traveler...
...Having got a measurement of the customer's foot, Peter, or one of the boys, selects a "last" (the "last" looks like a solid wooden shoe tree with no hands) nearest the size of the measured foot. This "last" is carefully sanded down or built up with pieces of leather so that it emerges a working model of the foot...
From here the "last" and the measurements are consulted in making a pattern for cutting out the leather uppers. The trigonometry involved would do credit to a Math 1 student. At this point, Mama's work begins; she cuts and sews the uppers to the required size. The selection and cutting of the upper is a difficult process, since all leather will stretch in one direction. The problem is to select a piece of leather with the minimum of stretch, and then cut it so that the stretching will be in the least detrimental direction...
...intricacies of the trade tempt Peter to make extravagant offers. On occasion he'll promise a pair of boots, free, to the visitor who can successfully pare a long bootlace from a patch of leather, or drive ten wooden pages into a boot sale without a miss. The latter offer was taken up by a Harvard skier who failed on his first try. The boot hungry student bought a wooden block, some pegs, and a mallet and practiced for a week. His return bout resulted in a near miss and a sigh relief from the Limmer family...
...climbing boots, too, have their well known users. Numbered among these is James B. Conant '14, who had the usual leather soles and hobnails on his replaced with cleated rubber soles...