familiarized himself with the making of turned and 

 welt shoes, which have always been considered the 

 highest type of shoemaking, and required exceptional 

 skill of the artisan in channeling the in-sole and out- 

 sole by hand, rounding the sole, sewing the welt, and 

 stitching the out- sole. After having served his appren- 

 ticeship, it was the custom for the full-fledged shoe- 

 maker to start on what was known as ' whipping the 

 cat/ which meant traveling from town to town, living 

 with a family while making a year's supply of shoes 

 for each member, and then moving on to fill engage- 

 ments previously made. 



"The change from which has been evolved our 

 present factory system, began in the latter part of 1 700, 

 when a system of sizes had been drafted, and shoe- 

 makers more enterprising than their fellows gathered 

 about them groups of workmen, and took upon them- 

 selves the dignity of manufacturers. The entire shoe 

 was then made under one roof, and generally from 

 leather that was tanned on the premises ; one workman 

 cut the leather; others sewed the uppers, and still 

 others fastened uppers to soles, each workman han- 

 dling only one part of the process of manufacture. 

 This division of labor was successful from the very 

 start, and soon the method was adopted of sending 

 out the uppers to be sewed by women and children at 

 their homes. Small shops were numerous through- 

 out certain parts of Massachusetts where the shoemaker, 

 with members of his family or sometimes a neighbor, 

 received the uppers and understock from the factories 

 nearby, bottomed the boots and shoes, and returned 



