The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-29
CONCERNING SHOES.

The diverse Significance of shoes among diff
fei, & nations and in different ages aptly typifes
tlut salient characteristics. What q story of
b naric enmity Is told in the custom of the
,ient Egyptians of painting ON the linen lining
GOV ering the sole of shoe the figure of cap
tive to indicate the pride of the victor in the
abase emeut of his foe and the crushing weight
of the remorseless power that doomed the pr-
soner to life of the most CALLING servitude
This is the story which modern cri sicism
tells us of the kngly race that built the
Pyramids on human misery aud degrade
tion. The visitor to the great
museum at Berlin can see one of these Egyptian
shoes, and look upos the picture of the captive,
which, after the lapse of four thousand years,
tells its pathetic story better than historian or
novelist. The writer of this article, when he
saw that emblem of oppression, thanked God
that no such history could be read in the clum-
sIest shoe that has pressed American soil since
the abolition of slavery. Indeed, the shoe or
sandal, among many ancient nations, was often
used as the symbol of servitude. 1t was the
mark of a servile condition among the Jews to
bear or unloose the sandals of another, as is i'm
piled in the well-knowu words of John the Bap-
tst and the passage in Psalms, "Over Edom will
| cast my shoe" signifies the subsection of that
country.
1t is pleasant to remember that the shoe some
times had higher significance, and that to take
II OFT in public was an expression of that grief
which forms bond of union among the whole
brotherhood of man. Religious feeling was
also manifested in this way, not only by the
Hebrew, but by the Egyptian and the Mohan-
medan, who on entering their places of worship
revereptially remove these coverings for the
feet This rsage existed to- some extent among
the Romans as appears from illustrations of
their worship OF Isis and Cybele. In Greece aud
Rome shoes we're taken off before reclining at
meals. And in our motherland, well as in
some parts of this country, the old shoe Is still
thrown for luck behind the bridal pair.
Among the Greeks and Romans the resources
of luxury and taste we're lavshed on the shoe.
The sandal, which was at first piece of leather
oil 8 FL a.
secured by thongs, however adapted to the hard
roads and stony deserts of the East, was untitled
for the use OF persons who traversed swamps
and thorny thickets. While the inhabitants of
the Oriental provinces of the Empire still re-
tanned the sandal, which was suited to their re-
quirements, the Romans gradually adopted a
more complete and comfortable protection for
the foot. The Athenian ladies and men of
rank had previously worn shoes and~slippers of
elegant design and workmanship, aad even in
Sparta, where shoes were condemned as etfemi-
nate luXures for use at home they were largely
manufactured to supply demand abroad. The
buskin, or COttur'nuS with which the tragic actor
trod the Attic stage, was high-laced. Aud,
although pride or love of singularty induced
Cato and a few other philosophers to discard
the shoe and walk barefoot, yet some sages
were sensible enough to keep their feet free
from dirt and danger. The ladies, like their
fair sisters OF to-day, not content with the pro-
ducts of home manufacture, often wore shoes
which were imported from neighboring coun-
ornament with the maid of Athens as the Paris
boot with the New York belle. Nor were the
mysteries of high heels less familiar to the
classic danes who walked by the Parthenon than
to those gay votaries of pleasure who sauntered
along the boulevard, where the beautiful church
of the Madeleine recalls its Attic prototype.
Short women then, as now, wore high heels and
thick soles.
empire to reach the height of luxurious extrava-
gaIce in the ornamentation of coverings for
the feet. JuYenal, in allusion to the skill aud
labor required from the cobbler advised him
not to go beyond his last, aud this expression of
the satirist has passed into proverb. But
shoes among the Romans, whether adorned
with patrician crescents, or gold and silver
plate, or made of coarser materials,
were not in universal use. A large
class was not permitted to wear them These
were the slaves, called cretdti from their dusty
feet. And, among the causes which
overthrow the empire, slavery, with its con-
comitaut evils, was the chief. In vain was
luxury lavished on the patrician buskIn. The
splendid but unwiedy fabric of Roman great
ness was destroyed by the shoeless slave. The
northern hordes only completed the destruction
which was begun at home. The saudaled
Sybarites, whose effeminacy tarnished the old
Roman reputation for wariike vigor, were no
match for the booted barbarians, who, mounted
on their fleet and sturdy horses, rushed in upon
the falling empire. 1t was the vessel of porce-
lain meeting the vessel of iron.
When the Romans occupied Britain, they
found some of the inhabitants wearing shoes
and sandes, while many were destitute of both.
Strut tells us that these naked savages were too
proud of the grotesque figures painted on their
skins to conceal them behind clothing aud they
thought shoes would lessen their speed. The
love OF display, common alike to the barbarian
and the civilized man, differs in the mode of its
manifestation. The shoeess savage may be as
vain as the exquisite whose boots make him a
martyr to fashion and the chiropedst This
fact suggests the existence of other defects
Xuh oh aiU hn m l.
cate. and which led Herbert Spencer to say that
many of his well-dressed brethren were little
better than barbarians in broadcloth 1t
is sometimes thought that the delicate
foot which requires small, we'll
| fitting boot to exhibit its graceful
proportions, is the mark of q gentleman. The
! pIactised observer, however, looks above the
! pedal coverings for the clew to character. He
! may indeed, detect mental weakness in the
! style of slipper, and vitiated taste in the
| form of a shoe, and his general estimate based
| on these particular indications will often be
| usually necessary for the determination of the
question. Men of vigorous intellect are some
times victims to the caprices of a wayward
! fancy. Byron is not the only example of this
morbid sensitiveness. In his case, personal de-
| formity, intensifying the evils of bad educa-
! tion, made him strangely sensitive about the APP
pearance of his feet. The same characteristic
| peculiarly overweening self consciousness,
and an exaggerated estimate of externals was
! manifested by man of different stamp, BE-
tween whom and Byron, however, there were
singular Tesemblances lgnatius LOyola, the
! founder OF the Society of Jesuits-that knight
errant of bigotry-having been wounded in
| battle had one of the bones of his leg cut of
To preserve the shape of mis- boot, thus incurring
great suffering and danger TO crafty a vain
! caprice. This the man who at a later day
gave up all worldly enjoyments in his devotion
to his narrow views of duty. The soldier and
f.,e