Boots

As children, most of us walked to school on gravel roads, which meant having to wear boots, although we preferred bare feet in summer. The country storekeepers always stocked boots, but usually we each had one pair at a time, as we soon grew out of them. With the gravel roads and muddy playing grounds, the boots got pretty grimy, but these same boots had to be cleaned and blacked on Saturdays, to be ready to wear to Sunday School or Church on Sundays. There were two brands of blacking available, Radium and Nugget, and we always used Radium polish.

My folk were never well off, but they lived simply, paid their way, and provided us with a stable, Christian home.