Shop H.E. Bates Online
ID
c167
Title
"Shoemakers Remembered."
Genre
Essay
Page Count
11
Word Count
2800
Publication Year
1957
Document Types
Full-text Online
Autobiographical
Topics
Rushden, Shoemakers

Bates reused this entire essay in 1971, with little alteration except in the first and last paragraphs, in The Vanished World (pp. 33-41).

He recalls the streets and buildings of his boyhood home, Rushden, then provides a vivid depiction of the appearance, style, and personal habits of his father and other shoemakers. The "torture" of waiting hours on Saturday mornings for a haircut, surrounded by "shag-smoking, snuff-taking, stubble-faced working men" forms part of a vivid depiction of village barber shops.

In The Book of Leisure (ed. John Pudney, London: Odhams Press, 1957, pp. 116-126, attached), Leisure-Hour Companion (1959).


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