The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-07-10
THE PEET.
All About Pedal Decoration I'm the Good
Old Days b. C.

THE PEET.
All About Pedal Decoration i'm the Good
| Old Days b. C.
At very early date the art of decora-
| ting the covering for the feet began to
| develop and the pretty feet of the fair
seemed to have betrayed the earliest
susceptibility to pedal ornaments, al
| though the use of these embellishments
was by no means confined to them, as
we shall presently see. Some of the
earliest and most distinctive examples
we find in Jewish records. Thus, in
Solomon's song q chap, iv), the bride
| is thus addressed "How beautiful are
thy feet with shoes (sandals), o princes
daughter y In the case of Judith of
the Apocryphs, although her personal
attractions, the splendor of her attire,
| and other ornaments, may have attracted
the attention of the fierce Holofernes,
the Assyrian general, it was her sandals
that ravished his eyes," (Judith. xvi
chap, 9y.) a passage in Isaiah gives
us an idea of the character of some of
the ornaments employed. "Haughty
daughters of Zion walking and mincing
as they go, and making tinkling with
their feet. The Lord will take away
about their feet" Isaiah, chap. iii, 10
18) The first approach to boot-and
there was probably nothing of the kind
prior to 500 B. C.-was in the shape of
a high stocking or greave, a piece of
leather affixed to the front of the shins
as protection from injury in war, by
means of leathern thongs or interlaced
bands of leather. This protection doubt
less eventuated in the elaborate feetal
greaves which formed an important part
of the armor of a later period. The
transition of the sandal to the shoe is
perhaps more evident in the sculptured
remains of Persia than in any other of
the dumb yet eloquent witnesses of an
tiquity.
Tine bas-reliefs of Persepolis give
many illustrations of the style of boots
and shoes worn by the Persians in the
time of Darius and Xerxes-between
521 B. G. and ATS B. Q. One of these
is sort of ankle boot, half shoe, half
sandal for what is termed the "upper |
leather" is little more than the straps of |
the sandals left much broader than usu- |
al, and fastened by buttons along the |
top of the foot. This kind of shoe is |
represented as having been worn by |
soldiers, the upper classes, and attend
ants around the throne of the king. |
Other specimens are completely and
unequivocally shoes, the characters
tics of the sandal being apparently en-
tirely absent. There are also among
these sculptures several kinds of boots,
one of them being similar to tire three
quarter Wellington of the present time.
A highly ornamental dress boot adorned
the legs of a gaily-dressed youth de-
picted on Theban painting, and sup
posed to have belonged to a country
adjacent to Egypt. It is similar in
form to the dress of Wellington of the
present century, and is a sample of the
boot decoration then prevailing. Ing.
hirami, in his Monument EtTGschi,
gives an engraving of a heathen priest,
taken from an ancient Etruscan sculp-
ture, the figure wearing a pair Of top
boots exceedingly like those worn by
the ditchers and fishermen of to-day.
The Etruscans were antecedent to the
Greeks and Romans in civilization, SO
that this must be very old, although not
so ancient as the Theban painting just
noticed.
It is tolerably clear that the shoe de-
veloped into the boot, and that Orator
celebrated method of making
q
early stage of the worlds history. Many
Of our readers will recollect the anec-
dote of the great mob orator, who once,
by clever strategy, is said to have at
tracted F'the greatest multitude of shoe
makers ever known to have been assem-
bled on one occasion" at his oratory
near Lincoln's Inn Fields. He had an
nounced a special discourse to shoemak- ,
ers, and in order to ''draw" an audience.
with the true genius of sensationalism, ,
ne declared that he could teach them a !
most expeditions way of making shoes.
His method was simple but conclusive,
7iz.: to cut off the tops of their boots. !
The ticket of admission on that occasion ,
pore tho appropriate but mocklng motto
-O1l1e HldiaGS co1ltilet in Sc minus (the !
Il eater contains the less). It is also ,
clear that in great degree :
modern fashion is but an imitation-a :
more or less refined one it may be-of
he other forms and fashions whose re-
lords are to be found on those ancient Z
History repeats itself"
n the way of boots and shoes as with
else, and the boots of mod
I'm days find their earliest exemplars on
hese striking sculptured memorials of
lations whose sun of prosperity has
zone down forever, but who once occu-
lied the proud place in the world of $
6 first in arts as in arms"
The great Persian monarch, Cyrus,
vas not only a warlike soldier, but a +
in the art of dress. He
7as accustomed to wear purple and !
7hite robes, and to encase his feet and
egs in yellow buskins. If a man 7
7as unfortunate enough to possess the :
ignity of high stature, he recon-
1ended that he should wear a suit of =
uskin or stocking, between the sole of
7hich and the bottom of the foot some
ubstance might be inserted to give an 4
increased hight to the wearer. A simi- =
ar method of increasing their hight
ppears to have obtained among women n
lso, for Xenophon, in his Economics,
lentions the wife of Ischomachus as g.
rearing high shoes for that purpose.
n the ton bs of ancient Egypt, women's q
hoes have been discovered that dis II
inctly have this object in view, for they y
re formed of stout sole of wood, \
D which is affixed four round props =
eally sort of foot-stool, only fixed
D the feet, raising the wearer foot
4 hight. The Phrygian bonnet, which
be goddess Minerva is sometimes rep
esented as wearing, is characteristic .,
ead-dress which finds a fitting coun- }.
erpart in the Phrygian boot. This = :,
rticle was worn very high, had four
ong flaps or streamers at the top ICON
isting of the leg-skins of animals =
hose skins had been used for body =
lothing), and were laced up in front. g
A Chicago Hotel. s.