The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-01-07
The Neral Effect Of Booas.

A writer in CasselES AIgasine gossips
about bad Boots -
The influence Of boots upon the mind is
very different from any other garment. A
mau may have shocking bad hat, but he
forgets it his coat may be threadbare. but
his mind is not directed towards IL; but we
defy anybody to stand upright in a pair of
bluchers with worn-down heels, and we be-
lieve that it is just as difficult to feel NOR
allv upright in them. 4 sense Of meanness
possesses him he feels that everybody Is
noticing them. lie cannot look people
straight in the face and feel upon the square
with them. He feels the weakness Of his
foundations, and he mstrusls tue character
of the superstruCture that they support,
however imposing in other respects. A
man shabby III the boots sometimes hatters
himself that carries off attention from them
by the use Of a splendid necktie: but this is
4 deusion and snare. The boots are the
KEY Of the position, and we feel sure that
no man ought to undertake any serious
matter unless ha stands up in good sound
pair Of boots.
A celebrated physiologist has said that if
human actions could be searched into, it
would be found that the intestines Of one
man often influence the desJines of an other
Doubtless, this is a profound remark, but it
applies to upper and neither soles well
to digestion. By way of argument, imag-
inc the final charge of the Guards at Water
loo made il bad boots. 1t would have been
all very well for the great Duke to have
said, up Guards, and at 'em." but could
they have got at them2 And if they had
failed. and we had lost Waterloo, what next
and next2 But. bandinage apart, no one
will feel inclined. we suppose, to deny the
= { Il ~. IL.
/ Uice CcrSa. When boots are hopelessy gone,
shame seems to have departed also. What
terribly bad boots we see crossing-swce pers
following their protesting 10. But these
are put on sometimes to excite pity. We
/ feel this. and the effect is lost upon u.s.
But is there a more piteous sight than a
] poor beggar with boot one foot and a
/ shoe on the other? A man brought to this
! point of degradation mist be demoralized
/ beyond the hope Of recovery. With women
( the moral influence of bad boots is not so
/ great as with men, for the reason that they
: contrive not to show them, but the physi-
/ cal influence is far more serious. The
/ writer speaking from long experience in the
/ practice of a dispeusary, where poor main y
/ apply. can safely say that not 1.-THE of
/ this class possess sound boots. Hidden un-
! der the petticoats, they are allowed to wear
: sometimes until the feet are Just upon the
J ground, and the wearer's stockings are,
/ from morning t. night. in state of sop.
This may be a minor evil, but it is just
/ the one that causes half the disease among
/ poor women, whose constitutions render
/ them far less able to bear exposure of this
/ kind than the other sex. There are clubs
and benefit societies of all kinds, but we
/ cannot fancy an institution that would do
more immediate and lasting good than a
/ Good Boots Club" for the benefit of wo-
men. We may ascend higher in the social
scale and find the same evil pervading.-
Many poor governesses and servants are
! shockiugly shod, 1t is just the point in
! their dress which they can hide, and they
/ invariably DO it, whereas it lies at the foun-
dation of their health and that of their
I children, aud should claim their first atten-
ton We laugh at the Gathering wooden
sabots of the French and German working
classes, but in comparison with-the himsy
} ill-made foot coverings our own poor indulge
! in, they are more healthy and lasting but
( fashion, even with the very poor, is far
more powerful we fear, than considerations
OF health or service. We have said enough
to show that ''bad boots'' may be consider
! ed one of these social evils of the day
worthy of recognition. II was the wish of
one of the best French kings that every man
should have a fowl in hts pot. If wishes
had the power of fulfilling themselves. it
would be good wish that every poor woman
had a sound pair of boots to her feet. If
! thai were the case. there would be far less
disease. and half the dispensary doors in
the town would be closed.