My Son's First Pair of Leather Shoes

Buying leather shoes is simple for people today, but in the 1950s, when military life was hard, giving a child a pair of leather shoes was very difficult.

When my son was nearly two, his father was away. I wanted to celebrate properly and decided to buy him a pair of leather shoes, because he had always worn cloth shoes I made for him.

A pair cost thirty-five dollars. My husband’s allowance for living expenses was one hundred and twenty dollars. There was no spare money to fulfil my wish. What could I do?

Later I saw our neighbour Mrs Yu go to a wool shop in Tainan city to collect yarn and knit pieces on contract to earn money. I went to her home and asked her to teach me to knit.

Once I had learnt, I plucked up courage and asked the shop owner, “May I do contract knitting for you?”

The owner thought I looked young—I was only twenty-one—and did not quite believe I could knit. I knitted for him on the spot.

I passed his test, but still had to leave a one-chi ring and my identity card as security before I could take yarn and a sample garment home.

At home I knitted seriously every day. In a week I finished a short women’s jacket in a feather-and-flower pattern, and fulfilled my dream of buying my child leather shoes.

The piece work paid exactly thirty-five dollars. As soon as I had the wages I took my son, beaming, to buy the shoes and have a photograph taken as a memento of his second birthday.