I thought maybe some of you might be interested in seeing these. My dad bought these little red shoes in England at the end of WWII for my older cousin (I wasn't around yet!).  She was kind and thoughtful enough to give them to me a few years ago, for which I will always be grateful. 

The shoes are leather, tacked to a solid wooden sole. The soles have steel "runners" on them for wear. Dad told me that when the kids would run on the cobblestone streets at dark, the sparks just flew from their feet when those steel pieces hit the cobblestones.