Mother's Shoes

In 1930 my mother was in the 10th grade in Oklahoma. She lived in town about seven miles from the farm where her parents (my grandparents) lived, and worked for her room and board with Roy and Myrtle Cowerds in Canute. In those days children tried to wear good shoes to school. One day mom broke her shoe heel. The next day she wrote to her mother. A rural mail carrier delivered the letter and waited for my grandmother to open the letter and read it. Grandmother then wrote to Mom and sent all the money she had — $2.25 — to help Mom buy some new shoes. The mail carrier then brought the letter (and money) back to Canute and gave it to Mom that afternoon. Later that day Mr. Cowerds drove Mom to Elk City (eight miles away) to a department store, so Mom could buy a $2 pair of shoes and had 25¢ left over to repair the old shoe.