San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-09-28
The Foot Problem.

Among the immediate consequences
of the fall of Adam was the introduce
ton of boots and shoes. This is evident
from variety of considerations. Ii
Paradise was really Paradise, the tor
ments of new shoes must have been I'M
known. Innocence knows no boots,
and bliss is barefooted. Why is it that
there is nothing which delights an inno-
cent child so much as to go barefootedp
1t is not merely-as careless thinkers
imagine-because shoes are uncomfort-
able, but because the childish heart, be-
ing as yet comparatively pure and un-
corrupted, revolts against the artificial
ity of shoes.
Unfortunately, the earth is not in a
condition to permit of universal bare
footedness. Since the fall it has brought
forth, not only thorns and briars, but
rusty nails, glass, tin clippings, and
sharp stones. None of these things
were found in the Garden of Eden, but
at the present time the quantity of them
is so great that they form geological
stratum resting upon, and distinct from,
what is properly called the alluvium.
The small boy, in accordance with the
mysterious law that protects him from
breaking his neck four times a day, is
gifted with remarkable immunity from
wounds when in barefooted state, but
as soon as he grows out OF small-boy-
hood he finds shoes an absolute neces-
sity.
it would be impossible to form any
accurate estimate of the enormous
amount of human suffering that has
been caused by boots and shoes. 1t is
t, ,e that no man in his senses wears
tight shoes, but even the loosest shoe,
when new, is stiff and uncomfortable.
To break in new pair of shoes is some
thing which every man breads only less
than he breads the annual visit to the
dentist. Occasionally the experiment
is tried of hiring another man to per-
form this painful task, but never sue
ceeds. Either the other man possesses
feet built on unique model, and there
by stretches the shoes intrusted to him
into unimaginable shapes, or else, hav-
ing become attached to them, he forgets
to return them. As for those people
who designedly wear tight shoes, their
miseries are unspeakable. The pinch
ed foot knoweth its own bitterness. 1t
DANGEROUSLY demands the whole atten-
ton of its owner, and renders him deaf
to the voice of reason or affection. How
many sermons have been wasted be-
cause they fell among the tight boots of
fashionable audience, and were there
by choked and trodden under foot!
How many vows of love have been heard
with GOODNESS and even with manifest
irritation, simply because the fair OBJ
iect to which they were addressed was
writhing with the pain inflicted by the
geographical error of forcing Chicago
foot into New York boot! Probably,
one-half of all the ill-temper aud pro-
family which disgrace our daily life is
due to boots and shoes, and could they
be forever laid aside, the source of hui
man misery would be proportionately
reduced.
There is an eminent chemist resid-
ing in London who was once requested
to invent some preparation which would
render horses hoofs sufficiently tough
to bear the wear and tear of pavements
without the protection of iron shoes.
For some reason he declined to under
take the task, but the matter did not
pass out of his mind. He was well
aware that men suffer from wearing
shoes, and he held the opinion-which
was formerly quite general-that men
are of more consequence than horses.
Gradually he perceived that, could the
human foot be so hardened as to be i'm
penetrable by nails or glass, and insen-
sible to the inequalities of rough stones,
shoes would be no longer necessary.
The more be thought of the matter the
more humiliating did it appear to him
that man should be the only animal who