Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-10-09
Small Feet.

omdn Get.
Women are mistaken when thew sunnose
small foot an element of beauty. A foot
should bear just proportion to the figure
If too large, it argues coarseness, and gives a
heavness to the manner-the person Iabors
with cumbrous platform beneath hin. which
entirely forbids ease and grace of movement.
large foot however, argues certain hon.
esty Of character. We are sure Audrey had
large feet we knew it instinctively when
Touchstone interrupts his discourse with the
melancholy Jacques to say, "bear your BODY
more Eeemly, Audrey"
Large feet imply stability. A man who is
jealous in his temper should marry woman
whose feet are large; such are generally
keepers at home, and modest withal-they
are not given to gadding-their feet abide in
their house.
Large feet are incompatible with genius, or
the finer shades of character. They have a
natural and inveterate planting to the earth,
which is not favorable to the flights of fancy,
or the delicate observances of sentiment
They are apt to have, Also an unseemly scuff,
and what country people call a "ke chuch''
sound, because of their weightiness. Such
persons, also, who have large feet. are apt to
wear the shoe down at the heel-in other
words, to go slip-shod-a thing unpardona
able and mons.rous in such a one, albeit =
dainty foot may be very taking thus care
lessly sandalled. But the experiment Is haz-
ardous to make.
''When swift Camilla seours The pain,n
and the country maiden scarcely starts the
dew from the grass as she trips along, we
are sure their feet are small, for large feet
cannot "trip" hence, when Touchstone says
"Trip, Audrey, trip" we knew it is in mock
cry.
Large feet are apt to send the toe up into
the air while walking, in most unseemly
wise. They cannot
50 Dance so lootingly
Observing tune and time
On the contrary, they are apt to lag be-
hind the measure, like the laugh Of a cullard
behind Joke.
No man requiring speed would send a
large footed messenger, because of the delay
caused by the difficulty which such persons
find In overcoming so much force of gravity;
therefore foOt-hot" was goodly phrase of
the olden time to signify speed, and Mercury
is well symbolized with wings upon his feet
Indeed, as the form of the foot fixes the des-
tiny of an animal, so the size Of the foot ia
fair index to character.
We do not like foot too small for the
height any more than we like one too large
A small foot indicateth coquetry. Cleo
pltra's foot must have been small and finely
arched, or she would never have done as
described by Enobarbus:
al saw her once
Hop forty PAGES through the public street.
No woman ever did or would have done
the like but with the consciousness Of great
perfection in the feet.
Antony sends her pearls, saying:
The firm Roman to great Esyptsend.
This treasure OF an oyster; ut whose feet,
10 mend the petty present, will piece
Her opulent throne with kingdoms"
No man alludes to woman's foot in any
way if he loves her, unless it be beautiful.
Hermione, on the contrary, had firm,
well proportioned foot, betokening majesty.
When she enacts the statute scene, we are
sure she had well-sized foot.
sob! royal piece,
There's magic In ihy majesty
is the exclamation of Leontes.
A woman will never enact the part of a
statue if conscious Of an i'll foot unless her
intellectually may have perverted her in
stincts. as in the case of Madam de Stael,
who at one time personated in this way; and
Talleyrand, if we mistake not, offended her
past retrieve, by saying he knew who it was
by the pes destal, pedestal, ) terrible pun
where the feet and ankles are ill-shaped.
Desdemona, Ophela, and Cordelia must
have had long, slender feet; which go with
more sentiment than with magnetism or
genius. Miranda, on the contrary, had
elegantly proportioned feet, worthy the
chaste Diana herself. Then, too, Kate,
dainty Kate, the sharp shrew, the pretty
vixen, had little arched foot graceful and
elastic as the spring of the tigers. When
Petruchio says,
ssNhy does the world report that Kate doth limp
1t was delicate commentator Of her foot
still more when be says,
.sDid ever Diana so become grove,
As Kate this chamber with her princely gait
Tennyson hath delicate eye for foot
when be represents Idea in this wise:
ssshe stood
Among her maidens, higher by the head,
Her back against pillar, her foot on one
or those tame leopards. kitten-like he rolled
And paved about her sandal"
And again, describing the retinue of the
princess climbing the rock in pursuit of min
erals, he says:
MANY a light foot shone jewel set
In the dark crag."
Women with large feet never like to climb
the hills.
The sentiment of beauty is less in size
than in certain litheness and elasticity
'Light as fawn, effect as the grey hound
with a step like the stag" are all pretty
phrases, indicating the character of the foot,
which is the index to the whole woman.
Dress has great effect upon the foot, and
we fear very long dresses demoralize it. The
ong robe certainly destroys its elasticity
We like to see the foot
"Beneath tho pctticoais,
Peep out and in, like little nice,
Which shun the light
This as very pretty in lover who saw
his mistress bathing her feet in brook, and
wrote her:
ado not fear TO put thy feet
Naked in the water sweet;
Fear not, lizard, newt or toad
Will not dare 10 come where thou hast trod.r
The French foot is meagre, narrow and
Dony the Spanish is small and elegantly
curved, thanks to its Moorish blood, cores
bonding with the Castilian pride-"high in
he insteP." The Arab foot is proverbial for
is high arch; ''a stream can run under the
hollow of his foot is description of its
fom. The foot of the Scotch is large and
.hick-that of the Irish flat and square
he English short and flimsy. The Ameri-
IAN foot is apt to be disproportionably small.
A foot should be arched, fairly rounded,
Ind its length proportioned to the height of
he individual 1t should have spring
@ II, as II did not quito belong to the earth,
md touched it daintily if not disdainfully.
rhe ankle should express tenderness =
should be round and firm. and not too
'mall.
90 | have hurt The wrist OF my fnot said