The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-04-21


.Hesvn shaliits blessing send her,
~ n 18th the gin Of tear divine,
-. Z. weaths~,y.
BOOTS.
0spanes Uses - which They HAVE Deen
Put.
Turning over the pages Of . vellum-
bound volume just A,quired at book
auction, halfway down q dingy page
saw the story of Conrad H., Emperor
Of Germany, who in the year 1927 gave
to . gentleman who had lost Q leg in
his service ''as many pieces of gold as
could be crowded into the boot Of the
severed limb; saying that this present
was to enable the sufferer 10 have his
wound properly dressed" 81
The incident turned my thoughts
upon the odd uses to which boots have
been put as recorded in history.
Boots are said to have been invented
by the Cartons somewhere in the dim
past, and to have been made of iron,
brass and leather. Homer mentions
b. e., and undoubtedly they were COM
mon among the ancieuts at . much
earlier date.
In the ninth chapter of Joshua Is re-
corded the ingenious stratagem OF the
Gibeonites by which they obtained q
league with the Israelites. They did
work willy. and went and made as II
they had been ambassadors. and took
old sacks and old shoes and clouted
upon their feet and old garments upon
them, and went to Joshua unto the
camp at Gilgal, and said unto him: I'VE
be come from far country; now there
fore make ye league with US. The
crafty Gibeonites succeeded in obtain
ing their request, but their trickery
being afterward discovered they were
condemned to perpetual bondage.
It was perhaps from this passage Of
Scripture that the Romans were in
spired to . similar ruse. In 157. A. d.,
the city of Luna, capital Of lunigiane,
situated between Tuscany and Liguria,
was destroyed by the Mortimer. Ac-
cording to an Icelandic saga, the oon-
querors were the descendants of the
redoubtable Regnor Ludbrock. author of
the remarkably emphatic death song, of
which each stansa opens with declara-
tion that the author will smile when he
dies; and from this fierce pagan they
valor. Having ravaged Lunigiane, the
but were prevented by some Roman
travellers. who showed to the invaders
their shoes completely worn out, de-
claring that they were new at their
departure from the Eternal City. The
Norsemen were thus convinced that the
distance from Luna to Rome must be
prodigious. and accordingly renounced
their design.
Stepping over few centuries we
como 20 tho days of the brilliant Don
John, Of Austria, the son of the EN-
peror Charles ", and half brother OF
the fanatical Philip IL, OF Spain. AZ
ter chivalric adventures In campaigns
against Moors, Turks and heretics OF all
sorts, he left his semi-regAl throne Is
Commander In the Netherlands against
William the Silent. to die suddenly and
mysteriously in his intrenohed camp at
Namur. on October !, 1887. poisoned.
the Seigner de Brantonne declares, by
. pair OF perfumed boots.
Various instances are recorded Of the
use OF boots as cruises or buckets, of
which perhaps the most remarkable Is
that of the great Marshal de Bassom-
pierre. who, doing everything ON mag
nificent scale, filled his jack-boot with
wine and emptied it at q draught to the
health Of the twelve Swiss Cantonsl
In the next century we find \ politi-
cal Significance given to this article Of
| apparel, when the hot-heads of France,
led BY Philip. Duke OF Orleans. dis
played their sympathy with English
manners and sentiments by wearing
the top-boots. These were soon exag-
gerated In size, and became the distin-
| gushing sign of the faction, very much
| e In moro modern days the tri-colored
| cockade marked the Communist.
In medieval Europe . prominent feat
ure In the trials by torture was the So
called "boot." an instrument which the
foot and calf of unhappy victims could.
by means OF wedges. be subjected to a
constantly increasing pressure, until
flesh and bone were reduced to q Jelly.
In both religious and civil trials this in
strumeut was used to extort what In
horrible mockery was called ga con,
fession," few victims being able to en-
dure the agony without subscribing To
whatever Acknowledgements their judges
chose to demand.
The employment Of the boot a. the
means Of carrying dispatches and mes
sages must be as old. ut least, a. the
general introduction Of the former.
Mai. Andre being only one out Of the
innumerable instances which win occur
to the reader. Certain Northern tribes
Of Indians make the legs of their fur
boots sufficiently capacious to serve rs
pockets, mothers sometimes carrying
their babies in this warm pouch o pro.
ceeding which calls up in my own mind
the days when we used to smuggle
paper-covered novels into school In The
legs of our boots. knowing full well
that bnlging pockets would be investi.
gated at sight e -la
Among the amusing sumptuary lawl
which appear in the early records oi
New England 10 one regulating, among
other extravagances, the wearing ol
boots. It was enacted by the General
Court Of Massachusetts, in 1851.
and reads in part as follows
Although seuevall declarations and
orders hane bin made by this court
agaynst excesse in apparriu both OF
men and womep, which hath not yet
taken that eject which were to be de-
sired, but ON the contrary we cannot
but to our grief take notice that intol
lersble excesse and brauery hath crep'
In vppon W, and especially among peo
ple Of meane condition, to the dis
honor Of God, the scandal OF oul
p'fession, the consumption OF estates
and altogether vnsuteable to our pov
ertie; and although we acknowledge I
20 be q matter OF much difi1cultie, II
/ I-~~A - - hnuIu~aa ~ vnnni