Golly, how I hated those long tan cotton socks that I had to wear when I was a little girl!!! I always dreaded when fall came and it was cold enough that mama made us wear those ugly stockings instead of our anklets. Every girl wore long stockings back in those days and everyone despised them as much as I did. Sometimes, we started off in the morning wearing them and by mid-afternoon, it was so hot we rolled them down, making a big roll at our ankles. One often bumped the two huge rolls together when we walked. Our stockings were held up by elastic garters or a garter belt with four straps with hooks on the ends. Those of us who could not afford the “store bought” garters, made them from yard elastic cut to fit our thighs and sewed together. Most mothers made our garters from elastic purchased from the Variety Store sewing department. They measured off a section to fit our thighs and sewed the ends together. They had to gauge how they cut them, tight enough to hold our socks up and loose enough to be comfortable. If the thread broke after some time, we would just tie the ends together making an ugly knot that often showed under our dresses. Other homemade garters were made from strips of a tire inner tube. Rubber bands were not in every household in those days and would not have worn well anyway. Those that could afford it, bought them ready made from Sears and Roebuck or the "Monkie" Ward catalogs. I can remember losing one or both a few times and frantically searching for them before I went to school. I refused to wear them after I left our one room country school. We rode a bus and it was not necessary then. I have worn both, elastic and inner tube garters. The inner tube garters lasted longer because the elastic ones stretched out or rolled up after a short time of wearing them. When the cotton socks were new, they had a shiny look. One time, when I was in the second grade, I was saving a pair of new ones for our Christmas program. When I dressed the night of the program, they were no where to be found. I looked for them for a long time before anyone asked what I was searching for. Daddy said he thought they were soiled and had washed them. I was so upset I started crying. Daddy apologized several times to no avail. I know I made him feel very badly. I had to wear them without the new shine anyway. My mother in-law, Jessie Guffy, wore long cotton socks winter and summer to the day she passed away. A few times after some of her daughters had mentioned she should wear nylons for dress, she would put a pair over her cotton socks for dress up. I think slacks on girls and women are a boon to the female society. If slacks had been fashionable back when I was small, I would never have had to wear those long ugly tan cotton socks.

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Created December 20, 2020

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