Karen Stander, age 9, of Weeping Water, Neb., for her question:

What is ostrich leather?

Any kind of leather was once the skin of an animal. It has been soaked and rolled,dyed and treated with chemicals to make it strong and lasting. Most of our shoe leather is cow skin, or cow hide as the leather ~makers call it. Some shoes are made of horse hide. Deer and pigs have strong, but much softer skins. Their hides are used to make gloves,

The big ostrich bird has a very tough hide, indeed. But ostriches are less plentiful than cows. Ostrich leather is more expensive and not much of it is used to make shoes. What little we can get is used to make small things such as wallets. Ostrich leather is dotted with round pits that show where the big bird's fancy feathers used to grow.