The Literacy Review - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New ...

My Lost Shoes
Agnes Hernon
16 Remembering
When I came of age 12, for my confirmation my mother sent away to Galway City for
my shoes and my dress. We lived on the “big” island Inishmore—nine by four miles—
30 miles from Galway City on the mainland of Ireland. There were two other islands,
Inisheer and Inishmaan, but they were smaller. At that time you couldn’t get any shoes
or clothes on Inishmore. My mother had to mail-order them.
I love the color blue. I saw the catalogue and I chose some nice, dark blue-gray
shoes. They were leather and had a little wedge heel. They were lace-up blue shoes and
I imagined them very comfortable. The laces were light blue. The company sent them
by boat.
The weather was very rough, gale force eight, and the boat capsized halfway to the
island. The cargo was all lost at sea. Nobody lost their lives, thank God. They were
rescued by the lifeboat, but the shoes and clothes went to rock bottom. It happened
around 1950 or thereabout. The merchants replaced all the lost goods, but I did not
have them for my confirmation. I had to use my worn pair of shoes, but they were
presentable. Nobody noticed, yet I was very upset. Still, all went well. That is the main
thing, that I was confirmed into the church as God’s child. I chose a middle name, a
confirmation name, and became Agnes Jayne Dirrane.
There were 15 children making their confirmation—boys and girls confirmed
together in the parish church. We had just a few people over to our house afterward to
celebrate. We had orange juice and crackers and gingerbread my mother made for the
occasion, and fresh cow’s milk. I used to love the milk. The cows were milked morning
and evening by hand. On my confirmation day, we also ate homemade pancakes with
raisins and eggs. They were very tasty with homemade butter. When I had my fill, I went
out to play. That was a beautiful day. All my neighbors came to congratulate me and
gave me little gifts—maybe a pound or rosary beads. But that’s many moons ago. I am
still here, with the grace of God.
I was very delighted when all our shoes and clothing were given back by the
merchants. How very kind and generous. I am very thankful to them. When I got
my new blue shoes, I was thrilled to bits. I only wore them to church and on special
occasions, like when the Archbishop was coming to the island for a special mass to save
our souls.
In about six months, I wore them out. My sister helped me—she used to wear them,
too. There was a hole coming up in the bottom. I had to destroy them. We piled shoes—
my sister’s shoes, my brother’s shoes, and whatever came into view—in the back of the