The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-01-26
Scientific Shoemakers.

Scientific Shoemakers.
There are certain men in that respect
able body of artisans called "shoema-
kers" who give evidence of brains.
There is no department of manufactures
within the line of costumes for men and
women which demands more intellect,
more head work, than to produce
properly made shoe. To fit shoe prop
erly to each individual who desires an
easy, well shaped, and durable foot COW
make shoe, to put the uppers together
and attach q sole to them, is within the
capability of any man or boy of ordinary
mechanical skill after half an hours
study The scientific shoemaker (and
there are such is priced by all his pat
rons, who yet themselves do not half the
time appreciate the thought which he
brings to bear upon his work; but who
realize one grand fact-his shoes or
boots always keep their shape, tread
squarely, neither wearing out the inside
nor the outside of the sole, and, what
is of equal, and perhaps of more conse-
tained from other parties at the same
cost. 6Wz + afa
How is this? You go to the shoema-
ker who makes upon scientific prinei-
Piles, and he does not merely measure
the length and thickness of your foot,
the height of the instep, the width over
the toe joints, the number of inches
from the extreme point of the heel to
the center of the curve where the foot
ceases and the leg commences; he does
not, after getting these, take the first
.'last' he gets his hand upon of the right
length, patching here and patching there,
and make up of sundry patches of leath-
er about your shape, and then go TO
work and last upon that and expect 50
give you a fit; he does more than bhat.
The scientific shoemaker studies the a
natomy of your foot. He sees now you
step; He knows if your foot needs u
straight or a slightly crooked last He
ascertains whether you turn your feet
out at about rig ht angles, like ballet
dancer on the stage, or whether you step
Jike old Leatherstocking, the Indian
chief, your feet turned inward; or like
old Johh Randolph, on a straight line
with your nose, neither inward nor out
ward. The scientific shoemaker dis
covers all these points, and, without ma
king any observations, quietly to kes his
notes and turns out a boot that treads in
the center, though all those you had pre-
viously worn had trodden on the out
side, marring the beauty of their orig
inal shape and wearing out in half the
time. -. ..t-e
How often have you heard a friend
fits like a glove; never gives me paia;
is easy while apparently too small;
and, more than that, wears double the
time of any I have purchased else.
where Do you understand why? Jones
studies the anatomy of the foot and
makes a covering to fit it. Two gentle
men may wear '.sevens;" the feet of each
gentleman may measure precisely alike
in every resp ct. When the boots are
tried on the feet, in both cases appear
the same They wear the boots thirty
days; one pair is screwed over on sole
and heel; the other pair have trodden
exactly in the center and have as perfect
shape as when first drawn on. Jones
never made those boots. The maker
was no artist; he did not work upon
a principle; if he had, the result would
have been alike. The fault was in the
boots, or rather in the making of the
boots. Both pairs should have trodden
in the center, and would have done so if
properly fitted to the foot. One pair
happened to fit, the other happened 9th
erwise. rse .-.- -..--r
Now, no man woman or child who is
not a cripple ever treads more on the
outside of the boot than on the inside
The fault is in the sole of the shoe or
boot, which the shoemaker has not prop
erly placed beneath the foot. Itis Ell
ther too much "right and left, ''er too lit
tie; and had tae maker of the shoe been
an artist (as all shoemakers who intend
to make good shoes oughtto bc) there
would have been no such results. as