The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-08-22

AuOn3 hQS lQIueUldD6 CONSEQUENCES
of the fall of Adam was the introduce
ton of boots and shoes. This is evident
from a variety of considerations. If
Paradise was really Paradise, the tor
ments of new shoes must hare 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 barefooted?
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 I'M
corrupted, reyolts sga;nst 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 a 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 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 neees-
sity.
1t 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
true that no man in his senses wears
tight shoes, but even the loosest shoe,
when new, is stiff and uncomfortable
To break in a 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
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
4 fashionable audience, and were there
by choked and trodden under foot
How many rows of love have been heard
with GOODNESS and even with manifest
irritation, simply because the fair OBJ
Jet to which they were addressed was
with the pain inflicted by the
error of forcing a Chicago
loot into New York boot Probably,
)ne-half of all the ill-tenper and pro-
;anity which disgrace our daily life is
lue to boots and shoes, and could they
De forever laid aside, the source of hui
nan misery would be proportionately
There is an eminent chemist resid-
ng in London who was once requested
% invent some preparation which would
'ender horses hOOfs sufficiently tough !
% bear the wear and tear of pavements
Without the protection of iron shoes
For some reason he declined to under |
axe the task, but the matter did not |
PASS out of his mind. He was well |
lware that men suffer from wearing |
shoes, and he held the opiniOn-which |
vas formerly quite general-that men
IRE of more consequence than horses. /
Gradually he perceived that, could the |
human foot be so hardened as to be i'm |
by nails or glass, and inser-
IDLE to the inequalities of rough stones,
hoes would be no longer necessary. |
The more he thought of the matter the |
more humiliating did it appear to him |
hat man should be the only animal who |
lnds shoes a necessity. The soles of |
he feet of all other animals are hard |
nough to resist the ordinary attacks of |
,lass and other unpleasant substances,
nd the sole of man ought to be equally |
erviceable. The chemist felt that to /
ry to remedy this mistake of nature
With the aid of shoes was unscientific. /
What is really needed, he said to him
elf, is some method of rendering the
luman foot at least as tough as ordinary
ole leather.
Upon this he fell to, and soon invent
d a lotion which, when applid fire.
aently and perSistently to the skin, had
he effect of rendering it one of the
Oughest substances known. He soak
d the right foot of a boy, borrowed for
he purpose from the nearest work
ouse, in the lotion, and, after it had be-
ONE thoroughly hard, caused the boy
D walk over a path strewn with broken
otttles and sharp tacks. The boy felt
o pain in his right foot and not a sim
lie scratch or indentation could be af-
erward found in its sole. The other
Dot, on the contrary, was cut and
ierced in seventy-six distinct places.
he boy was then placed on his back on
large packing-box, and was instructed
} hold his feet alternately in the air
lille the chemist fired at them. The
ullet from a large pistol rebounded
rom the sole of the toughened foot
,ithout injuring it in the slightest de-
rec. A charge of buckshot proved
imilarly innocuous, and a rifle ball
red from a regulation army rifle mere
? Clipped off the extreme edge of one
De. The other foot was then fired at
nth buckshot, but was, unfortunately,
ntirely shot away at the first trial, so
nat the pistol and the rifle could not be
sed However, the experiment was
onclusive, and proved that feet harden
d by the chemists process are far more
1ugh than any shoe that can be made
unless it is made of thick plates of
fetal.
This is a grand discovery. 1t should
AIRY hope and joy to millions of wea-
led feet. The day is coming when we
hall throw away our boots and shoes
lcluding even our india-rubber over
noes-and with naked hardened feet de-
7 alike the SHOWS of winter and the
roken bottles of summer. No more
hall we groan under the pressure of
ght shoes and the heat of new boots.
nd, should the chemists lotion be APP
lied to other parts of the human frame,
e may be able to dispense with hats,
nd at the same time to render our
ardened scalps invulnerable by bullets