New-York daily tribune., 1858-10-02
FROM MASSACHUSETTS.
OLD SHOES AND OLD BOOKS
1ssn IN Occasional Correspondent.

when last wrote TO you, it was a''e' "'"'e
g. o,,, hon.st old beach. IcaD IT 0Srs-L e.
c;u,--because. whenever may cra"i o'' " '"'
,,o nav, slant sun of December shaA carry
-. A.. ssnd the sheen and the sunset, "a
' =. 1o,.ver, Pardon my omission OF the
- creet partly because you have no Oreek
t,nss in the Office, and principally because you d.
..,. .crateh my Greek, and if my Latin escapes
-th. stin Of its teeth, it is usually nsprinted)
r.. u.n from Neptune down yonder 10 Minerva
,,bere-and BY here mean the rooms Of Lynn
Library Assocation-would not be a great task tor
. professional pedestrian. But once here, it<faa
fhst the Trident-bearer had been before me, and
had left sOnrenir Of shells, coral'. nosses and
dried fish. These are in the cabinet OF The Ii
brary. Of this may say, shortly enough that it
10 netbtr better nor worse than srnils. collections
IN mzny country towns Of Massachusetts,. There
arc about three thousand verioes OF all sorts and
Isiyes and qualities, mostly modern, and few very
curious. All the best newspapers are taken in,
and the best American and English reviews and
macazincs The Librarians desk has Mr.. Sum
per's portrait upon one side, and Mr.. Wilson's
upon the other, afording pretty sure indication OF
the political proclivlties OF the men OF leather
Most librarians in Boston would even now thlhk
twice before hanging up the obnoxious autographs
But if cannot send you much that is new about
the books / can give your readers something
ylesned from the Museum. Not merely Indian
Snssre dried and picked snakes little collections
Of shells and stones, whales tooth or tWO-lor
these one finds everywhere. Ii seems to be quite
a moral point with your mariner 10 make yotIve
altering upon his return, to the Museum OF his
native town Just in the old Greek times the
cabin passengers when safe in port, hung their iid
dies in the temples fAphrodite, while the orecastle
denizens bestowed their shirts and duck trOwsers
There is little heap Of whale ivory here, carved
and cOlored with hearts, darts weeping willows
and American flags; there are cOrals, canoes, clubs
paddles terrapns, with sprinklng Of idols. Hels:
a brass idol with two heads, FIVE tails and three
stomachs, mounted upan a donkey with five legs
and Two tails which is the sOlldifcatiOn of some
thing in the Vedas and which / am sure was cast
IN Birmingham and sent TO India upon speculation
hem a wooden idol with saffron belly and pink
ewes, very venerable though not artlstcally beaut
full But these we will leave, with fit Obesance
and genuhexOn, and come at once to shoes of
which there is small collection. Shoes of all ages
tight shoes and splay shocs-shOes of leather and
shOes of wood and shoes of silk-brOgans, sandals
snow-shOes, boOtees, clogs, slippers and highlows
We will push open the cabinet door and make a
venture.
intended this place of honor for the twinklinQ-
footed ladies' but the gods were against them.
This shoe would have been too large even for Mrs.
SiddOns 1t is cut i'll its upper story not unlike the
hQht low-duartered shoe which we wear now in the
Summer-the upper leather is very stiff and tanned
TO the toughness of iron; the clasp is like the
shackle of murderer, and the original sole was
quite thin. But to this has been added sub-sOle
of heavy wood. The heel of this is studded with
large headed nails and the front is provided with
iron rim something like horseshoe. One shoe OF
this construction weighs about two pounds. You
will find something ike it in Hogarths pictures
SEE the print of "the Politician"-but the English
ahoes were never quite so heavy This specimen
is German, and only about fifty years old. There
IL an English shoe of about the same size, and sni-
lar in construction, which fancy is much older
than its Dutch brother Next to make little skip,
we have good specimen OF the Chinese wooden
sboe-and rather an old specimen thlnk-hewed
out of solid block, with the familiar curved toe,
and the high, light heel. There is much lighter
Chinese woman shoe, also OF wood, but evidently
d fancy article never worn.
And talking of heels, here is lady's shoe, worn
upon the pretty little foot of some blOssoming
beauty about one hundred and sixty years ago
Heaven helped l hope beauty's instep, for the
heel is as high as rich mans monument. No WO-
man without an arch magnlhcently curved could
have worn this shoe without torture The upper
cloth il Of golden sort of chintz-the lining OF
glove kid The toe s peaked and rises from the
level of the sole. This is a smaller shoe, and
think a little older one. The heel is high, but
hardly an inch wide at the bottom; the toe Is
pointed and the material pink satin. The white
slipper of IVA lowers the heel II little but it Is
even smaller than that Of the shoe OF 1850, and 1t
has the same absurd Chinese peak al the toe. l do
not know just when our fair dispensed with this
folly, but will some of your young ladies, who read
TUE TRIBUNE, remember whether they have or
have not seen their grandmOthers shoe with the
following label inside: "L'ECUROw, CordOnnier-
sbottier fat s0niitrs pour hOmmeS d pour ttmmes
''iustt prir. II deme9ro rue du ChemiR-du- Modoc,
gu e2l, pres la piaoe fondandige, Bordeaa.'
The worthy maker is "dead for ducat;" the
pretty Miss - Cher name is on the SOLE is dead
doubtless, and her feet will no more beneath her
pettcOat " like little mice steal IN and out; While
] st here in Mayflower chair, to wonder, imagine
and speculate -" Gillians dead, God rest her bier
"Menau's married. but 81, here.
Alone aud sorry Forty Year
But there is nothing like transition Here is
shoe-a brOgan-made for Southern negro. II IL
immense, gigantic, overpowering. Ii is two feet
long at least-the sole is an inch thick; the upper
leather is almost as hard as horn and about an
eighth of an inch thick. The shoe certainly weighs
two pounds The Wandering Jew could not have
worn it out had be marched in it temporibHs until
he was caught. Gagged and delineated by NJ Sue.
One thing is certain no slave could run away in
such shoe unless be had the legs of the Farnere
Hercules.
Ofthis have satisfied myself after full examin-
alton, that in the matter of shoes We have grown
sensible. While abandoning the dblime nonsense of
q full-bottomed wig we rid ourselves Of lower
form of folly; and believe that civilized men are
in this nineteenth century better shod, better
clothed, and better halted than the men of q hun
dred years ago. Leather is not well tanned il
once was, but AT the same time il is not 80 hard,
stiff and clumsy. | defy any mall-though he may
be legitmately descended from an ilegitimate
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