Wen | Liu Weixiang Editor | Shu for photo | Zheng Jie photography
On the weekend, I went back to my hometown to have a look. It was late autumn, and most of the farmers planted wheat, entering a long period of agricultural leisure. Walking on the street, occasionally I saw several old ladies sitting around the gate, tearing their hair and chatting, the elderly people were industrious, tearing some hair balls to earn some money, and rarely saw young women. Small talk with mother. The mother sighed: "The young women are really idle now. In the past, as soon as the work in the field was over, women began to get busy: spinning cotton, threading, weaving, smearing, making shoes,......。 "My mother's words remind me of the long past.
In the past, most of the farmers wore cloth shoes at home. The production of cloth shoes is also quite laborious: women must first spin cotton, and then soak the spun cotton thread with water, so that it is not easy to break; fold the wet thread into several strands, and then twist it into a thin rope on the spinning wheel, which is the rope that contains the sole. This kind of rope can not use nylon thread, otherwise, the sole of the shoe will be strong and not strong. Then it's time for the women to put on their pants. I still remember my mother and other women smearing their pants.
There are two kinds of folds. Cloth is used to make uppers, and most of the cloth selected is some used cotton cloth at home, which is wasteful and economical. Those foreign cloths, such as chemical fiber cloth, are not OK, and the coat is not sticky or stiff. In addition, the slurry must also be wheat-faced, so that the upper of the shoe is quite solid. Hemp gowns are used to make soles. First, the hemp peel should be dried and combed with a comb to make a hemp. This way, women can start to smear their pants. Roll a layer of hemp or a layer of cloth, then apply a layer of white batter, and then spread it again until it is the required thickness.
I remember that my mother often worked with other women to remove the two door panels on the house of the family to make a cushion because of the ugliness. The door of the li family came from the rich peasant family. The door panel is very thick, embedded with a row of large iron hat nails, and the pleats are always made of some uneven pits. When the farmers are idle, the sun is warm at noon, walking on the main street of the village, by the bridge, from time to time you can see the door panels covered with wet and wet pants, basking in the sun, which constitutes a unique scene in the countryside at that time.
According to the hinged shoe pattern, hinge the upper and sole of the shoe on the pleat. The sole is multi-layered, wrapped in a bought white cloth, stacked together, padded solidly, and then wrapped in a white cloth, you can use cotton rope to hold the bottom. This process is the most time-consuming and energy-intensive, so women get together to take care of the soles of their shoes, which is the main way to pass the time in their spare time. To see if a woman's handiwork is skillful, look at the soles of her shoes. Whether the stitches are fine and strong, whether the style is beautiful and generous, and whether the wear is comfortable, all test the dexterity of the hostess. There are more skillful hands, made of tiger head doll shoes, embroidered beautiful and vivid, called to buy at the market, causing people's praise and praise, and soon sold out.
The uppers are reamed and covered with black cloth, and the better women go to the set to buy black flannel and cover them on the outside of the uppers, which is particularly beautiful. I put the finished upper and sole firm with cotton rope. In this way, a pair of cloth shoes is ready.
In the past, croppers loved to wear cloth shoes. Cloth shoes are comfortable to wear, the bottom is soft, breathable, and do not burn the feet. "Still cloth shoes to raise feet, now young people are wearing suits and leather shoes, bright and bright." But I didn't know that as soon as I took off my shoes, the smell was so smelly that people couldn't breathe. The feet are covered all day long, and various foot diseases such as athlete's foot and corns follow, which makes people nostalgic for the cloth shoes made by the family. I thought.
Constantly thinking of rural movie clips or scenes of the last century: a rural girl wearing simple pigtails, with a shy face, secretly stuffed a pair of brand new cloth shoes for her sweetheart, turned her head and left, leaving only a surprised young man, holding cloth shoes, "hey hey" silly music. Cloth shoes are the pursuit and confession of love of the girl who has just opened her love. The thread is long, the needle is dense, full of affection for the sole; a needle, a thread, to produce love as sweet as honey. During the revolutionary war years, Yimeng Hong's sister-in-law took out tens of thousands of pairs of military shoes to support the people's children and soldiers to go to the front line, and sang a song of Yimeng praise for the unity of the military and the people.
Nowadays, ordinary cloth shoes have gradually faded out of people's vision due to cumbersome workmanship, and shoes made by machines with rapid economic and aesthetic processing have entered thousands of households. But home-made cloth shoes that carry the good memories of generations will continue to remain in people's hearts and will not be forgotten for a long time.
Author: Liu Weixiang, Teacher of Yinma Town Middle School in Juancheng County, Amateur Writer
One Point Heart Dream Literature