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We often used cardboard or newspapers to make insoles for our shoes. I don't know why, but it just seems that my shoes had holes in the soles most of the time. It drove Mom crazy. A new pair of shoes would last maybe a month or so before I wore a hole in the sole. A regular nightly routine for me was to cut out a piece of cardboard or newspaper in the shape of my shoe and place it inside the shoe to cover the hole for the next day. It was nothing unusual; a lot of kids had holes in their shoes. At school we used to argue about what was best and how much paper to use and all that. I remember one kid had a thin piece of wood that lasted several days. That was great, especially when you consider a cardboard or newspaper insole lasted less than a day.

Hand-me-down clothes were the order of the day too, not the exception. I wore a lot of hand-me-down stuff in those times. If there was anything brand new to be had in the line of clothes, I usually got it. I was the oldest and the biggest. Take for example a new pair of pants. I got them at the start when they were brand new. When I grew to the point the cuffs were about four inches above my anklebone, I gave them up and they went to Jim. When Jim out grew them, they went to Bob. When Bob out grew them, they went to Russell. By the time they got to Russell, the cuffs were ragged; there were patches on both knees as well as a couple more patches on the hind end. They were faded, limp, had other tears in them and they looked just terrible. In fact, they looked so bad that I'll bet kids of today would gladly pay seventy-five dollars to get a pair just like them.

Cardboard insoles, hand-me-down clothes, home make toys; you might think we were poor. I can assure you that was not the case. We were not the least bit poor. In all truth, we were filthy rich in many, many ways; we just didn't have any money.

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