The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-06-19
Down flowed her robe } tartan sheen,
Till half "A leg was scrmply seen
Aud such a leg! My bonnie Jean
Alone could eel ii

Alone could Beer it!
Most children in rural Scotland are innocent of
all patronage of the craft of St. Crispin, andlove,
as the immortal song says, to pa7dIe IN the burns
that all over the mountain land are as plentiful us
meadows in England.
Paddle - cXciains the English RAIDER
" what is paidling?' Nothing, my friend, but
padding about i'll the water with bare iect-a
very iavoritc diversion with the children OF the
glens and the mountains, and the recollection ot
which, when brought to mind III n company Of
Scotsnen by the singing OF what may lie called
their national song, invariably arOuSeS their en-
thusiasm, and fills them with patriotic emotion.
1t can scarcely be denied that Il bare foot and
leg is 4 more picturesque object than Il loot with
an old PATCHED, down-trodden boot or shoe, and Il
dirty darned stocking. But for young people the
bare foot has other than artistic and aesthetic
recommendations, and much may be sud in f;Gor
Oi its economy, and, what Is more Important, oil
its hcIlthiulneSs. Nothing in the back slum of
English cities is more suggestive OF squalor md
misery than the successful attempts OF the poo TO
be directly shod. \ ragged coat or gown is es
suggestive of extreme want than the torlorn bots
and shoes of the children, and the tlthiness OF
their stockings. And vet the poor of Englnd
must spend n considerable portion of their scnty
earnings in the attempt TO procure what cusem,
habit. use, and the consent of society, agree to
think Indispensable pieces of attire. III 1t bees
timated that the number of poor children uIer
twelve years of age, living in the rural disticts
and cities of England is three millions-a mder-
ate calculation-and that each child costs five
shillings Il year for such poor boots, shoes, and
stockings as his parents can purchase, we ave
the sum of no less than E750, 900 per annum eX-
pended for Il purpose which the children Oithe
poor Scotch. rs well as the Irish never, neher
think essential nor agreeable; and if the annual
sum be multiplied by twelve, we have ne less
than nine millions of pounds sterling lost t. the
parents, without any zeal advantage to the;hil-
drcn. Among the poorest of the poor, VOID it
not be an advantage if the share contribute by
them to this large total of wealth were cxmded
in bread and butter, and the other food reqired,
or If Il little share of it went TO pay the chool
fees? There Is no greater reason in Nature why
the feet should be covered than the hands o ace
and Il handsome foot is, rs everybody knows, as
pleasant an object as Il well shaped hand. Ind if
the hand could only be cramped by the COVE Il
quarter as much as the foot lis cramped Y the
shocmakcrs, there would scarcely be a pretty hand
left in England, unless it belonged to som strong
minded person of either sex, who was old and
firm enough 10 set fashion ut defiance, nd to re-
fuse to outrage the simplicity of Naturs
As regards health, grace, and agility we have
but TO ask ourselves whence come cors and bum
ions, and how continually the sufferer from these
painful callOsities, are prevented blythe torture
they infict. from taking the waEng exercise
which Is alike the cheapest, the Ibst healthtui,
and the most agreeable, to be coIinccd that of
all the handicrafts that minister tohe wants and
the comforts Of man, that of the sicmaker could
be most easily and Observation-Disclosures with.
In England, among rich and poOl alike, the nor
mally shaped foot of an adult is Iey seldom to be
seen, as any doctor or surgeon an easily testify
out of his experience. In fact, tn feet of most
men and women are deformed, an the great toe
forced from its natural position i'm curve toward
the little toe, which, in like nannr, Is curved in
ward. Were it not for the r%espitand the liberty
accorded Mt night-which mitigfe, but do not
remove the evil-the feet of hglislmen, and
more especially English women, mo cramp them,
in order that they may appear sail and pretty,
would be as little serviceable foryholesome exer-
as those of the Chinese lads, whom we all
agree to laugh at seeing the ote IN our neigh
boris eve, but not in our ON. 1t has been "
,ynically suggested that the bot and shOemakers
ire in league with the chiropCists and doctors 10 y
damage our health by means our feet, and that
they are allowcda per centagoy the profession for
caliosities which they cree by the faulty con- ~
~truction of our neither intesments. But cynics
ire privileged to believe thworst of everything
II everybody and doubtlesthc CriSpins, great =
md small, would be quittas willing TO make
Doots and shoes on natural principles, as to allow
or the he,lithful play and lotion Of the foot, as
% make natural ones, / fashion and custom p
would but run in that DIRECTION. But custom is =
ike the mountain. mt tcbc moved by the blast
If Il trumpet and fishiQ Is more obstinate in
having its own way, in site of reason and remon- Y
trance, than all themuls, pigs, and asses that '
yer existed since tie Grafton of the world.
| end in the spirt in which [ began. Bettera
lean hand than adirt, glove better bare feet
han clOutcd shod an ragged stockings, and !
,etter, far better, .eet sch as Nature intended,
nan the feet With we owe to fashion and the ~,
ootmaker.-4Uh Var Round. -