Overshoes

  Time was when all kids wore them, since they played outside all day long, including snowy and rainy days. Overshoes  were all the same,of rubber,  always black, and just plain ugly, though since there was no other choice nobody cared about looks. They fastened on one side with a kind of button and loop closure, which frequently broke and could be replaced, sort of, by slipping a jar rubber over the foot. Overshoes were notoriously hard to put on, as they pulled on over your shoes, and besides they most likely were from the year before, or hand-me-downs, and a very snug fit.
   We kids would often have difficulty pulling them on and so our mother, so busy with other household tasks, would have to stop what she was doing to help us. I can still hear her exasperated voice saying, "The snaps go on the outside!"
   I remember being too young, or just too clueless, to know what she meant. Of course the snaps would be on the outside. And whatever the outside of the foot was meant nothing to me. We never questioned her: we were in a hurry to get outside and she was in a hurry to get back to her chores. But now I get it.