Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/185

 III!* OLI.KfTlONS CfF AN OLD PlONEKR. 17" In the fall of 1846 my brother, William, came to Oregon, and afterwards lived with me about nine months. He waa a I mechanical genhtt, and could do well almost any kind of work. He could make a splendid last and a good boot. One day I showed him my lasts. He was too generous to wound the f eel i niis of his rider In-other by criticising his poor work. II. said ii-ii a word, hut in a few days thereafter he made a pair of right and left lasts for himself. I observed how he did it. and the moment the first last was about finished I saw that mine were very poor. They were almost flat, scarcely turning up at the toe at all. I quietly took my lasts and cast them into the tire, and then set to work and made an entire new set; and I never gave up the attempt until I suc- ceeded in making not only a good last, but a good shoe. In the course of about two years we had other tan-yards in successful operation, where we could have hides tanned on shares. I had in the meantime made a trade for a small herd of cattle; and after this I had an ample supply of good leather. ;md upon that point I was at ease. The greatest difficulty I had to encounter for the want of shees was in 1844. I had sown some three acres of wheat about the first of .May. and it was absolutely necessary to en- close it by the first of June to make a crop. I did not com- mence plowing until about the LNMh of April. My team was raw. and so was I, and it required several days' trial to en- able us to do irood work. While I was en gaged in making and hanlin*: rails to fence in my wheat, my old boots gave out en- tirely, and 1 had no time to look for a substitute. I was worse <;IV than I was when without a hat in Bolivar. Tennessee. I was determined to save my wheat at any sacrifice, and I therefore went barefoot. Diirinir the first week my feet were very sore; but after that there came a shield over them, so that I could work with great ease, and go almost anywhere except among thorns. lint we had another trouble on our hands. By permission of a neighbor of ours, a sincere minister, we were allowed to occupy temporarily the log cabin then used for a church, <*