The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-10-22
woMAN,s WAY.
why She Sits on the Floor to Take on Her
Shoes, Scientifically Considered.
New York Times.I

WHY She Sits on the Floor to Take or Her
Shoes, Scientifically Considered.
New York Timesl
Tt is universally known that when man
desires to take off his shoes he adopts one of
TWO methods. Either he sits on a chair or
sofa and rests one foot on his knee while
unfastening and removing its shoe, or he
stands up, and, by placing his foot on a
chair, brings the shoe readily within reach
of his hand. Neither of these methods Ia
ever employed-so we are assured on the
authority of scientific persons-by women.
Mr. Darwin asserts that the habit of sitting
down on the floor IN order to unlace or I'M
button shoes is peculiarly characteristic of
women, and is so he believes, an element.
or, at all events, sign OF sex. 1t is not the
business of the public to inquire how Mr..
Darwin and his scientific friends acquired
the data upon which they base their asser.
tons as TO this alleged feminine habit. Per-
haps they wrote to the late DIR. Judson, an
eminent missionary, who having been mar
ried four times, must have collected vast
and awful quantity OF facts. However this
may be- we need not now inquire, since 1t
is with the investigation as TO the origin of
the alleged custom that we are at present
concerned.
Mr.. Darwin has prejudice in favor of the
doctrine which he invented concerning the
survival of the fittest, and naturally brings
it into service whenever there is an oppor-
invented when women began to wear shoes,
and that hence they were necessarily obliged
to sit on the floor when they wished to take
them off When chairs first came into use
they were very expensive, and were handled
with great care. The thoughtful young man,
of course preferred to marry girl who
never put her foot on chair,
and therefore selected wife
whom he knew would SIT on the floor
to take off her shoes, instead of using one OF
his precious chairs. Thus 1t was only the
girls who practiced that judicious habit that
secured husbands. They married, being the
fittest for matrimony, and the occasional
woman who used chairs in connection with
removing their shoes gradually became ex-
tinct. This is an ingenious theory, and
coming from the source that 1t does, it de-
serves respectful consideration. At the same
time, it must be noticed that 1T is based
upon a gratuitous assum ption that feminine
shoes preceded chairs in order of develop
ment This still remains 10 be proved, and
until it is proved Mr.. Darwin's theory can
not be regarded IS anything but ingenious
hypothesis.
Mr. John Stuart Mill insists that the diff
ference between the two sexes in their man
ner of removing shoes is due to distinctive
mental peculisrities. Man, so he asserts
delights to make all things subservient to
him. while woman prefers to be hersel
subservient. Hence, man, when he pro
ceeds to take off shoe. conn., els his foot tC
approach his hand, whether by placing 1t or
a chair or by laying it across his knee
Woman, on the contrary, is perfectly con
tented to sink gracefully and gently on {
level with her foot by sitting down on thu
floor. The masculinity of man. says Mr.
Mill. ''triumphs over his foot; the feminin
| ity OF woman descends to meet her foot. /
| is another illustration of the fact that mar
Is made to rule and woman to obey"