Carrie Grimm b between 1910 - 1912 in Oklahoma. She was a cousin in some degree of the Ratliff girls, (Thelma, Mildred, Billie and Boots) and a sibling of so many my Ma said she herself lost count and knew them all.. Carrie came from a large family and as my Mama put it "they was poorer than snakes". Carrie was one of Mama's best friends, and a cousin in some round about way. I am working on the connection to see if "cousin" was used loosely or if she was blood kinfolk. With so many mouths to feed luxuries like clothes and shoes were almost nil at the Grimm home. All the kids of course had something to put on, even if it was only the same thing day after day and passed down from older child to younger child until the material gave out and could not be repaired. Then as ma told me, if there was any life to that material those spots were cut out to use for something else, or used as patches on another piece of clothing in a little better shape. Shoes were almost unheard of and if they had a pair they too had been handed down, found, or wrapped up in some way to make them wearable as protection for their feet in the winter at least. Summer time, who cared, every body went bare foot and you just suffered sand burs and things like that til your feet were tough as rawhide. Kind of a natural shoe of sorts. Carrie finally acquired a pair of shoes. I forget how she came by them as Mama is not here to remind me. But never the less these shoes were Carrie's, all to herself. They were NEW too. Little Canvas type shoes of some sort, slippers as Mama called them. Carrie was right proud of them shoes. Who wouldn't be? With shoes that were not some one else's first, already worn through. They were shoes fit to wear, just on Carrie's feet and her feet alone. She may have considered passing them along to one of the younger girls later, when she had worn then thin and out grown them, maybe... just maybe. Carrie wore those shoes to school the first day that she put them on her feet. They were a source of pride and with them she high stepped her way to school and at school all day, so folks could notice that she was wearing them fine shoes... It was recess and Carrie's high stepping had turned into down right flipping her feet up into the air so that even the birds and God himself could admire her shoes. Yes, this was the finest day of Carrie's life to that point. She was happy, happy, happy.. as ma put it "happier than a dog with two tails". If you remember... schools back then had out houses. This one had a set on one side of the field for the girls and one on the other for the boys. Now Carrie was not nearly settling down any wheres close to what you would have thought she would be, even if only from having worn her energy levels down from showing off those shoes. No, heck no... her feet she was now flinging out in front of kids nearly tripping them so as they could get a better look at them shoes of hers. Some how Carrie got to flipping her feet around near the out houses and one of them fine new shoes let loose from her foot. It made it straight way through the open door and well... you can just about guess where it HAD to land now couldn't you? This was a serious situation, one that just could not have happened, not to Carrie's NEW shoes. Panic struck all the girls and the group poured into the out house shoving each other aside to view down the hole to spot Carrie's shoe, laying there in the muck and sinking too. Screaming and hollering, Carrie crying and carrying on like this was her last day on earth, wretched with agony at the thought of her new shoe in that hole. The Janitor was sent for and Carrie let out of class to direct him to which hole it had landed in. Ma always said, "thank heavens that it did not happen at the new school as they had eight holers there". That poor Janitor had to dismantle the seats and climb into that stinking, oh, lord... you can imagine.... and then dig around to find Carrie's treasured shoe. He did indeed find it, to her most sincere relief and thankfulness. Carrie took her new shoes home, now most inappropriately broke in and officially NOT NEW any longer. Her mama scrubbed them up clean as a whistle and dried them out for Carrie to continue to use. This was all well and good as Carrie still had a fine pair of shoes, but after that day Carrie quit high stepping for folks to notice them. Kelly ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]