Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-05-13
Domestic.

CHrLpRES's SHoEs-.A great many
children suffer martyrdom with their
feet and make no sign. We saw the
other day little foot-two OF them, IN
fact-that had pressed the clover bios
SONS of only five Summers and yet were
distorted beyond all hope of symmetry.
Crowded into q shoe at once too narrow
and too short what could the toes do
but double up in q forced endeavor to
accommodate themselves to their mar
row quarters and by way of protest
make an ugly wart at the toe of the
shoe? The walk of that innocent was
anything but graceful. That, however,
dwindled into nothing when one thought
of the suffering the fedgeling must ex-
perience with every new pair OF shoes
so long as she lived. But her fond
mother dotted on little feet and thought
that by constant compression she could
persuade her child's foot to be content
with a narrower compass than nature
intended for it. She succeeded, but at
what a sacrifice of comfort, grace, and
symmetry
Compression of the feet in children,
not less than in grown people, works q
great many evils. Derangement of cir
culation, headache, and weak eyes, re-
suit from wearing tight shoes. The
motions of a child should be absolutely
free, and every garment and covering
of the body should be so contrived as
not to detract in the least from perfect
freedom of circulation and movement.
Keeping shoes on feet that have out
grown them is very expensive economy |;
it would be cheaper to manure grape
vines with them. We confess to a great
admiration for small and pretty hands
than they, are hands and feet, however
big they may be, that are serviceable to
their owners, and that haste to do good.
Can any one tell what number of shoes
Socrates wore or would have worn had
sandals been numbered in his day, as
they are in ours? Did the mother of
the Gracchi have small feet, and If she
did, what better were her sons for it?
1t is probable that more children
suffer the misery of compressed feet
from want of reflection or from false
views of economy on the part of the pa
rent than from maternal vanity. One
ill-fittiDg pair of shoes may entail on a
child lifetime of suffering. We write
this at the suggestion of q friend to
whom new shoes are instruments of tor
ture, and have been for thirty years /;
and all because when she was little
girl she wore a pair of boots one of
which was too narrow across the toes.
That unlucky boot has caused her, she
AYERS, more plain than she has suffered
from all other causes put together.
Her children do not wear tight shoes.
1t may not be amiss to add q word of
consolation to the unfortunate posses
sors of ugly hands and feet. We have
heard unnumbered expressions of ad-
miration of the works of various artists,
authors, and poets, but we do not re-
member ever to have heard the query
as to what kind of hand wrought any
picture or penned any passage thus ad-
mired, or what kind of foot seconded
the researches of the brain and hand in
pursuit of the knowledge or ability thus
illustrated. If our work is well and
faithfully done, it matters little whether
our complexion is clear or cloudy, what
the color of our hair may be, or what
number of gloves or shoes we wear, SO
they do not impede our activities.