Papa and Mama had nine children. On Sundays we dressed up in our very best and went to Sunday School and Church. We did not always have the latest fashions to wear, but what we wore had to be clean and freshly ironed with shoes polished and our hair combed. I can still remember the sharp point of the comb pressing down on my head as Mama held my chin in one hand and parted my hair with the other.
Papa seemed to think that shining shoes was of utmost importance. Since he did not work on Sundays, Papa would line up all the family shoes on Saturday night and shine them for Sunday. He pulled out an old wooden shoe-shine box that had all the necessary equipment in it: shoe daubers for brown and black shoes, Shineola shoe polish, liquid white polish, black dye for making white shoes into black shoes when they became too marred to stay white, a sheep skin buffer, and a genuine horse-hair shoe brush.
As I got big enough to do my own shoes Papa taught and supervised me until I became and expert. I learned that the most important part of the shoe was the back. It just would not do to shine the toes of the shoes and neglect the backs. A man needed to care about where he had been just as much as where he was going. It didn't matter if nobody ever saw the back of your shoes. It was important to self-respect to know that the back of your shoes were shined as well as the front.
So, when I had the opportunity to go through the old home-place in Meridian, Mississippi, before it was sold I latched on to Papa's shoe brush. It seemed to me to be about the best symbol left of the kind of man Papa was. I almost lost it one time. When we moved from Nesbit, Mississippi, to Naples, Florida, in December of 1952, I forgot to take it out of the bottom kitchen drawer of the Nesbit manse. Fortunately, though, I was able to prevail upon a friend in Nesbit to pack it up and mail it to me. Years later when we were downsizing I gave it to our son Robert in hopes that he would treasure it. Now I have found that he still has it, since he sent me the three pictures for this blog. So, you have the story of one of my treasures: Papa's Shoe Brush.
(Originally written 01-28-94)
Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My father (Donnell) was a stickler for clean shoes, too! I remember his wooden shoe shine kit and the Sunday morning polishing of shoes. My Sunday shoes were always patent leather and couldn't be polished, which was a disappointment for me!
ReplyDeleteLoved this story--it brought back memories of my dad (Johnny) who was obviously highly influenced by his dad. Saturday nights were all about watching Lawrence Welk and shinning shoes and making us kids do our Sunday School lessons. Dad had the same routine with a wooden shoe shine kit. Years later he made me a shoe shine box that was a replica of his and I'm guessing it looked just like his dad's. It's in my closet ready for the next shoe shine--I never thought about NOT shining the back. Thanks dad.
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