Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1882-03-09
SECURING SOLES.
The Peculiarities Of the Foot Covering Affected BY
Prominent Persons OF all Classes


81 have the heaviest and liohtest shoes
Tor actual wear in any shop here that
there are in the city, said Thomas
Mcguire, shoemaker well known
among actors and sporting men NOW.
here is pair of shoes that | made for
Bob Brettle. Don't recollect him ?
Well, he fiourished before your time. but
in his day he was a man who could
stand up against Tom Savers and Jem
Mace. He beat Mace once"
The shoes were hanging to peg on
the wall. The soles were more than an
inch thick, and the heel was a great
leather pedestal. Sundry bulges in the
uppers had been slashed across to ac-
commodate protuberances in the late
Bob Brettle's feet. The shoes weighed
two pounds and three ounces apiece
"Now, here are the lightest shoes in
the shop" said Mr. Mcguire, produc-
ing 2 pair which looked like low cut
leather socks rather than shoes. They
weigh six ounces. made them for
Waldron, Of the Manhattan Athletic
Club
"Why do pugilists wear such heay V
shoes?" asked the reporter.
Those are training shoes. They are
made heavy so as to exercise the ANGLE
muscles. When a pugilist has got used
to taking long walks in such shoes and
TO jumping about in them when spar
ring with his trainer, he feels as if he
was dancing in the air when he gets on
pair of shoes Of ordinary weight
When he gets into the ring to fight he
wear an ordinary pair of walking shoes
laced up in front, with three spikes in
the sole and one in the heel to give him
a firm stand when he plants himself in
delivering blow. | have made shoes
for Tom Allen, Joe Goss and Billy
Edwards. Billy has nice little foot,
well shaped, He wears No. 6. |
made the shoe in which he fought when
he whipped Sam Collyer. Allen and
Goss both take a No. 9. Ned O'Bald-
win, the Irish giant, took i24, but
then he was big man. | used to build
out the uppers over the toes SO as to
give him room without making the sole
too long. Pugilists generally have n
fiat, thick foot, and have no doubt that
is the strongest make of foot and car
rics weight the easiest. Dooney Har-
ris, the trainer, has, however, pretty
well arched foot, and wears only q
Nos.
Mr.. Waldron's shoes had no heels,
but followed the exact contour of the
foot. Under the ball of the foot was a
piece of sole leather in which were short
spikes to prevent sliding. The uppers
canted toward the inner side uf the foot
you see said Mr. Mcclure, 1.-THE
strain is as much outward and down
ward as forward in running and the
shoe is built to brace the foot firmly in
every direction of pressure. In making
such shoes the measure is taken upon
the naked foot and the shoe is at least
three sizes smaller than an ordinary
shoe. Aproperly made running shoe
fits the foot rs easily as the skin and as
close
Peoples feet are as differnnt Us
their faces, AMI ,ou cannot make shoes
in the same way for all. You have to
give greater toe room than usual to feet
with low insteps. for they tend to slip
forward. Fechter had long, slim foot,
but at the same time he had high in
step. don't thing ever saw a foot
that tlattened so much past the instep.
He wore No. 9. The late James Wal
lack lad well-shaped foot, with an
archcd sole and very high instep.
He wore q No. z. l have made shoes
for John Mccullough, although now
adays don't do as mucn for actors as |
used to. Mccullough has well-shaped
foot, with nothing notable about any of
its parts He wears No. 9. | recol-
lect Forests foot well, and it was
small and well formed, although he was
SO large a man. He had an arched sole
and very high instep. lie wore a No.
8. | recollect he once sent for me to
come to the Metropolitan Hotel TO meas
IRE him. He had an idea that his left
leg was a little shorter than the other
and thought that he might need TO have
some cork put in to make him stand
even He had me make measurements
of his. body to see whether he was lap
sided or not. | could not find any diff
ference in the length of his legs, and
think that he got the idea from a stage
habit of dragging the right leg little
in his stride. IL seemed to be so fixed
in the opinion that the left shoe would
have to be built up little, that said
that perhaps little cork--a very little
would be n good thing. All | did,
though, was TO put in thicker insole in
that shoe | often used to put corks in
his stage shoes. The spangled CATERS
that he wore in the last act of Jack
Cabe had tmee-eighths of an inch Of
cork between upper and sole, raising
him that much.
Take it for all in all the most SYM
metrcal foot that | ever handled was
Pauline Markham $ Hers was a
tf,.ry,r,.l,l,- -.
ANGLE, heel, instep and ball. 1t was
not so very small a foot, but there is
such Il thing as n foot being too small.
have made shoes for lady who took
No. IS, child's size, but it was not a
pretty foot. | always thought Mark
ham Il sensible woman, because she
would not spoil her foot by pinching it.
She wore No. 4, and most any other
woman with her foot would have pinch
ed it into No ,. Lydia ThOmpson's
foot was no smaller than Markham 5,
but she wore a No. 81 shoe. LYDIA
Thompson had an ordinary good foot
and ANGLE, but nothing to compare with
Pauline Markham -
is there any difference in the make
Of peoples feet here and in the old
country?' the reporter asked.
The feet Of the Americans are as II
rule of smaller and lighter build than
the feet of Englishmen and have more
arch and higher insteps. | worked in
the best London shops before coming to
this country, and know there are
plenty of big feet among the English
ariStocracy The feet of American
ladies are smaller than those of English
ladies'. but the American ladies are apt
10 distort their feet in way that Eng
liSh ladies' do not. Now, by rights the
last Of which a shoe is made ought to be
three sizes larger than the foot. There
are four sizes to an inch, 50 that would
give thrcc-quarters of an inch room to
the foot An English woman will take
such measurement, but if YOU make
shoes in that way for American ladies'
you will have them left on your hands.
You cannot make the shoe more than
from a size and half to two sizes above
the extra length of the foot. Anything
can get my foot in | can wear, they
say, and so we give plenty of width be-
trccn heel and ANGLE. 50 that they can
slip their feet in, and they don't seem to
mind how their toes are piuched to-
gcther when their foot settles into the
shoe. The result is that English wom-
en- have q freer, easier gait than Ameri-
can women. Nee York Smh