Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1880-07-01
Tne Boot,

man boot has been subject OF
amazement to the student of socia
customs. AT the present moment
while the thermometer is amcns
the nfneties, and Manitoba is send
ing hot waves in all directions,
thousands of comparatively intel
iigent men are wearing boots that
heat their feet and legs cruelty and
unnecessarily. They wear boots
merely because previous genera
tions of meh living under peculiar
conditions found boots useful. This
is the dullest and most inexcusable
kind of conservatism.
The boot was originally an out
side article of dress. In earlier
days Europe was terribly muddy,
and trousers and stockings were
costly. The male European, there
fore, wore boots with enormously
long legs. By this means he pro-
tected his lower garments from
mud and kept his feet comparative~
ly cry. With the progress Of civil
lization the mud of Europe dried
up. Weather bureaus were estab--
lished which continually prophesied
areas of rain and frequent local
showers. of course, these never
made their appearance, and one
nee essity of mud was therefore
wanting. Street pavements became
common, and street-sweepers oc-
casionally swept them clean. In
these circumstances boots ceased to
be either necessary or useful, but
the conservative European mind
was unable to abandon them. In,
stead of wearing boots outside of
their trousers, the Europeans drew
their trousers over their boot legs.
This was An open confession that
boots were useless, and that all the
wants of the human foot could be
met by shoes. The bootleg sur
vived merely because of the stupid
conservatism of its wearers, and
should the climate Of Europe ever
become So hot that overcoats would
lose their reason for being, we
might expect to see that respect
able conservative wearing his over
coat under his shirt.
In the civilized parts. of this
country the boot is worn for the
same reason that it is worn on the
other side of the Atlantic. In the
far West, where rattlesnakes
abound, and where paved streets
arc unknown, the boot tulhls its
normal purpose, and is worn out
side Of the trousers. Elsewhere,
however, it is merely an illustra-
ton of human folly, and there is
not the slightest excuse for its
existence.
There are certain classes which
have an immoral interest in pre-
serving the popularity of boots
The shoemaker always prefers to
make boot rather than a shoe,
because it takes more leather, and
hence higher price can be
charged for it. He knows perfect
iy we'll that the leather used in
manufacturing a bootleg will be
Of no possible use to the purchaser,
but what does he care for that,
provided he can make out bill
for pair of boots Then, the
doctors are advocates of boot
wearing They know that the
practice of casing the legs ard feet
with air-tight leather in bet
weather is an excellent plan for
overheating the blood and inducing
suI-stroke and other diseases. We
need not wonder, therefore, that
unprincIpled doctors, anxious only
to gain patients, earnestly advise
everybody TO wear boots, and that
more conscientious 3o:tOrs scrupu-
lously avoid saying anything that
might cast suspicion upon boots
Finally, there are the temperance
lecturers, who know that boot-legs
afford Il refuge for the imaginary
snakes of delirous drunkards, and
who encourage the wearing ol
boots in the hope that drunkarde
may thereby be terrified into re-
pen:ancc and reformation. In fact
boots are among the efficient aids
of the temperance cause, and were
our drunkards to universally wear
shoes, they woulo never be driven
to temporary reformation by the
visit of alcoholic reptiles.
In the Western States there
fingers, according to the local
press, a curious custom which in
wolves the wearing OF boots by
/ fathers of marriageable girls. Il
appears that when young man
| visits a Young woman with the in
tention of ultimately making hel
his wife, the girls father rushe'
upon him, and with his right boo
nrges him to fight. This IS donbt
| q