I’ve always thought of these as “teacher shoes,” because all my old maid elementary school teachers wore shoes exactly like them. And a lot more of my 1950’s teachers were misses rather than Mrs.

At a certain time in history, seems like the 40's and early 50's, the only option older ladies had were those unattractive clodhoppers that gave no concession to grace or femininity. A lot of them looked not that much different from men's shoes except for a slightly elevated heel.

That and Reader's Digest - the two magazines my folks subscribed to the whole time I was growing up.

That lady though is going to have some serious health issues judging by the size of her calves. She needs more gittin' and less sittin'.

The cat lady is reading an article from the October 11, 1941, issue of the Saturday Evening Post titled "The Rover Boys" -- about Carl Hovgard and Leo M. Cherne, two men who wrote books detailing how to make money from the Depression-era bureaucracy.

Looks as the lady on the right is reading a Saturday Evening Post. Cat looks happy and healthy. I would like to see the pattern being stitched. My mother and grandmother used to sit and do this, many of which could end up on towels and all things fabric.

The lady in the dark dress appears to have a severe case of swollen legs. Up next for her -- varicose veins.

I'm glad they let them have a cat, since it doesn't look like they had much else. These look like nice, pleasant ladies though. I hope things got easier for them, rather than harder, with the coming of the war years.