SHIRLEY SHOES. 



513 



work, Sheep-shearing in the Bavarian Highlands, ' sometime in the 18th century. Toward the middle 

 which received honorable mention at the Paris Ex- j of the 18th century every new town north of Vir- 

 position of 1878. Among his works notable for ' ginia stalled its tannery, and shoemaking soon fol- 

 breadth of treatment, and of ten possessing much dec- i lowed ; but the bulk of the business continued in 



orative quality, are : Good Morning, owned by the 

 Buffalo Academy ; Very Old, Gos.sip, and Jealousy, 

 in the New York Academy. He has also executed a 

 large frieze for the house of Darius O. Mills, New 

 York. He was one of the founders of the Society of 

 American Artists, and has been instructor at the Art 

 League, N. Y. lu 1888 he was elected to the Na- 

 tional Academy. (P. L. w.) 



SHIRLEY, WILLIAM (1693-1771), colonial governor 

 of Massachusetts, was barn at Preston, Sussex, Eng- 

 land, and became a lawyer. His literary proclivity 

 was shown by his tragedy Elect ru and the masque, 

 The liiflh <>f Hercules. In 1734 he removed to Bos- 

 ton, where he practised his profession. He was cm- 



New England, while the Southern colonies obtained 

 most of their shoes by purchase. 



In 1731 the English parliament, incited by the 

 small demand for shoes from the colonies, ordered 

 the Board of Trade to inquire into the American man- 

 ufacture, which inquiry resulted in the discovery that 

 the colonists were almost completely supplied with 

 shoes of home manufacture. The family stock of 

 leather was worked up by itiiiernnt shoemakers, 

 who went from house to house, and were followed 

 by itinerant cobblers to repair the worn shoes. In 

 Massachusetts, however, the art was conducted on a 

 larger Bcule, and considerable exportation of shoes 

 took place to the other colonies and the West Indies. 



ployed as commissioner in settling the boundary be- I The British effort to lay duties on American imports 

 tween Massachusetts and Rhode Island, when in 1741 ' in 17G4 gave a special stimulus to the shoe trade, 

 he was commissioned as royal governor. He planned which continued active till the Revolution. Duiing 



the expedition against Cape Breton in 1745, in 

 which Louisburg was captured. He afterward went 

 to England, and was a commissioner at Paris in 1750 

 to settle the northeastern boundary of New England. 

 He returned to Massachusetts in 1753, and treated 



with the French was renewed, he was made com- 

 mander-in-chief of all the British forces in North 

 America. He planned the expedition against Niag- 

 ara, and led it as far as Oswego, where it was stopped 

 by Lick of provisions. His son was killed in Brad- 

 dock's expedition of the same year. In 1750 Gen. 

 Abercroinbie superseded Shirley, who was, how- 

 ever, made lien tenant-general in 1759, and afterward 



that struggle for independence the trade was re- 

 stricted by the great scarcity of hides, and the army 

 suffered greatly for want of shoes. On a requisition 

 from Ticonderoga for shoes to supply orer 12,000 

 men, only !)00 pairs could be sent. Oue-Riird of the 



with the Indians in Maine. In 1755, when the war Ticonderoga force was obliged to do duty shoeless 



in the winter season of 1776. Similar conditions ex- 

 isted in later campaigns. The business revived after 

 the peace, but in 1789 it became necessary to impose 



a tariff charge to check importations. 



As we have already stated, Massachusetts led in 

 the shoe business, a;id still holds the supremacy. 

 This is particularly the case in the towns near Bos- 

 ton. There are records of r.hoemakiug in Lvnn as 



governor in the Bahamas. In 1770 ho returned to early as 1G35, and in 1G50 that town made rooio 

 Massachusetts, where hehadbuiltaspacious mansion ! shoes than any other in the country. It made a 

 at Roxbnry. There he died, March 24, 1771. I specialty of ladies' shoes, mostly of cloth. By 17CO 



SHOES, as now made, comprise two parts, a solo it had a surplus for export, and sent shoes to New 

 of thick, solid leather, and an upper of , York, Philadelphia, and tho South. The business 



SeeVoL XXI. 

 Am. Rep.). 



sewing or pegging. Until recently" tho shoo" was 

 made ontright by a single persnn, but most of the 

 shoes now made are produced in factories in which 



thin and soft leather, often of cloth iu 

 ladies' shoes. These parts are fastened 

 together in various ways, usually by 



of Lynn largely developed after the Revolutionary 

 war." In 1788* it exported 100,000 pairs; in 1795, 

 300,000 pairs ; and by 1877 its product had increased 

 to 14,000,000 pairs. 



The shoes made in tho eaily period were rough, 

 ill-iitting, and imperfect. The workmen were un- 



there is a well-developed division of labor, a con- 1 skilled, and many of the shoes were made by me- 

 siderable number of workmen being employed on t cliauics of other trades, who worked at home at this 

 e;ich shoe, while the common use of machinery art iu the winter. It was not till 1750 that tho 

 has replaced much of the old hand-work. No small ' knowledge <>f the art improved. At that period a 

 percentage of the shoes worn in this country are still skilful AVclsh shoemaker settled in Massachusetts, 

 made in small shops, as custom-work, but even in who quickly gained a great reputation in the trade 

 this branch of the trade labor-saving machinery is j by his superior workmanship. The general style of 

 employed to a considerable extent. Them are. more shoes greatly improved under the incitement of his 

 persons employed to-day in the United States in the example, and by 1764 Lynn lad gained the reputa- 

 preparation and the various manufactures of leather i tion of making shoes equal to those of London. 



than in the manufacture of cotton, linen, and woollen 

 goods, and more than three-fourths of the leather 

 product is nsed in the making of boots and shoes. 



Slioemakiug was one of the earliest trades estab- 

 lished in the American colonies, and as early as 1G48 



After the Revolutionary period, other towns came 

 into con>i>etition with Lynn fora share of the shoe 

 trade. Haveihill and Danvers early engaged in the 

 manufacture of lad es' shoes, while other towns near 

 Boston successively engaged in the business. Mar- 



the shoemakers were legally incorporated as a trade i blehcad was one of these, incited thereto by the de- 



guild. They were most numerous in the town of 

 Lynn, MASS., which has continued to the present 

 day the centre of the American shoe industry. At 

 that time ladies wore mostly stuff shoes, gentlemen 

 boots and shoes made of cowhide, there being few 

 or none made of calfskins till after the Revolution. 

 In 16G2 the business of tanning, currying, and shoe- 

 making existed in Virginia, yet as late as 1G81 only 

 a few hides were tanned, and most shoes of all 

 grades were imported from England till some time 

 in the 18th century. The legal price of shoes in 

 Virginia at that early date was fixed at 30 or 35 Ibs. 

 of tobacco for large sizes. New York also displayed 

 some activity in tanning and shnemaking, but Penn 



cline of i's fisheries. It now makes about 4,000,(,00 

 paire yearly. The shoes of Lynn are still nearly all 

 women's shoes, the uppers being made principally 

 of lasting or serge, though many are of leather. 

 The work of this town embraces all the light, eheup, 

 machine-sewed styles. Haveihill, which conies next 

 in importance, produces a better quality of shoe, and 

 turns out sewed and pegged work of every kind. 

 Many other places in Massachusetts, Maine, and 

 New Hampshire are extensively engaged in the bus- 

 iness, Boston being their commercial centre. 



New York is second to Boston as a shoe distribut- 

 ing centre. It has long been famed for the quality 

 of its shoes. Only fine goods are made there, and 



was more tardy, doing little in this line till the city turns out the best factory-made boots and 



