The Hickman courier., 1871-04-22
"A MISCELLANY.
lPram he pil.sbarg Indsx. ]

X.
lFrom The Piltsburg Index.
"a shoestring is a good thing. With
what intense admiration have We watched
a shoemaker making string out Of a
circular piece Of leather And when be
rubbed little dubbiug over the string
twisted it on his knee and made it slick
and round, admiration swelled intC
amusement and delight But leather
sboestrings have gone out of fashion. "A
few elderly gentlemen aad some impe.
cunious negro men still cling to them
bat females Of all complexion laugh
them 10 scorn.
"If q shoestring is good thing, a
will be argued that the ionger the string
the better thing it is. The proposition
admits of debate a sermon, for an
stance. is oiten as good as the majority
OF shoesirings, but DO one will contend
that the longer the sermon the better the
sermon If We look deeply into the
matter, we shall find that long shoestrings
are the curpe of this country.
.sLet US therefore look deeply into the
mstter.
sTbere are thirty millions Of people
in the United States. OF these, at least
twelve millions are women and children,
who wear long and generally rotten cot
ton shoestrings. The few who csn af
ford to wear button CATERS may be
thrown out of the account Now It takes
. woman ten minutes to lace up her
CATERS, and, as children are restless, 1t
takes much longer to lace their CATERS
saw twenty minutes.
"This will be thought an overestimate.
But if we reflect that. shoes have to be
changed several times day-for no lady
can wear the same shoes in the street
that she wears in the house-and if ws
remember that ehildren's strings are al
ways either getting united or getting 10
hard knots, we shall find that the esti-
mate is moderate one Fifteen minutes,
morning and evening, make half an hour
day wasted by each woman and child
in lacing and unlacing shoestrings. Men,
meanwhile, average three second to each
boot OF shoe-say twelve seconds In the
twenty -four hours.
"Twelve million half hours make six
million hours. Time is money. But
women's time is not worth much money.
" " Ill bdN tuGA S4db CAtn 1o1l Va W.
mems time is worth one cent. Six mil
lions of cents and sixty thousand dollars
wasted every day Of the world by the
women and children of this nation.
There are three hundred and thirteen
working days In the year. Three hun
dred aud thirteen times sixty thousand
deilarf make--what do you suppose
Why, eighteen millions, aud seven hun
drsd and eighty thousand dollars-say,
ia Ea&d numboe, nineteen millions OF
dollars wasted per annum upon this non-
senselacing and uElacing long rotten cot
ton shoestrings.
Said we h truly that long shoe.
strings were the curse of this country
"What do you want ladies to go back
TO slippers aud low quarter shoes, and
have their Stockings eternalIy full ol
dirt and coal dust? Or would you have
them wear boots, and thus destroy the
beauty of the female ankle?
mo, indeed. You greatly mistake US
Not for worlds would we have the ankle
look boxed or swollen or in the least de.
gree unsymmetrical.
az hat then?
This, namely: Inasmuch as button
CATERS, which cost SO much more than
laced gaiters-a really nice pair of the
former cannot be had for less than Sc
inasmuch, We say, as button CATERS
themselves are obnoxious to the charge
of consuming almost as much time and
money as laced CATERS. We would do
away altogether with the present style
0f CATERS. =
'sBut the delight Of neat, tight ankles
must be preserved at ali hazards.
"And heresis the practical part of the
matter.
stIt has been discovered of late that
rubber retains its elasticity so permanent
" that IL serves for springs almost if not
quite well asHeel. Now if Yankee
ingenuity, availing itself Of this persist
snce of force in rubber, cannot invent
sopetk-ng that can be drawn on as
quickly as mans boot, that fits the an
kle perfectly, and will continue 20 ft i,
without puckering, as the elastic in mod
eru mems CATERS always does, and with
out checking the circulation or the in
sensible perspiration-thus drawing
the foot, as the ladies say--if Yanke.
invention is not competent to the solution
of this problem, then we are hugely mis-
taken.
s.Let. it be done. The saving of tim
and temper will be immense. And wit
the time and money SO saved we will b
able to pay off the. national debt in les
than two hundred years.
IN. Bit may be well to add for tn
benefit of those who may still be incline
to accuse US of overes,imating the anDu
al waste of money in women's shoestrine
that We have purposely taken the censu
Of 1860 instead of 1770, in order to b
within bounds. The population Of th
United States is not thirty but thirty
eight millions"