The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-12-01
SHOES IN OLpEN TIMES.

Rnde drawings are seen on the wall
of Thebes (B. c. 1496) of shoemakers
performing their tasks, showing their
trade 10 be ancient as well as eminently
respectable and we read in Homer or
Princes manufacturing their own shoes,
Theyshave been made of various mater
ials-hides, fax, silk, cloth, wood, iron,
silver and gold, and in a great variety
of shapes, plain and ornamental, and
among the Jews they were made of lea
uher. linen and wood. Soldiers wore
them of brass and iron, tied with thongs
To put off the shoes was an act of ven-
Grafton. The Asiatics and Egyptians
wore shoes made of the bark of the pa
pyrus. Among the Greeks the shoes
generally reached to the mid-leg, or like
what we now call boots.
Ladies. as a mark of distinction, wore
sandals--a sort of loose. e.shOw, something
like a modern slipper, XenOphon re-
lates that the ten thousand Greeks who
followed young Cyrus, wanting shoes in
their retreat, covered their feet with
raw hides, which occasioned them great
injury. The Roman shoes were of two
kinds-the calceus, which covered the
whole foot, and the sOlea, which cover
ed only the sole, was fastened with
thongs. Ladies of Tauk wore white and
sometimes red shoes; other woman wore
black. The shoes of some of the Roman
EmperoTs were enriched with precious
stones. It is generally regarded as
mark OF effeminacy for men to wear
shoes. Cato and other noble Romans
had no coveridg for their feet when they
appeared in public. In the ninth and
tenth centuries the greatest princes of
Europe wore wooden shoes, or wooden
sOles fastened with leather thongs. In
the eleventh century the upper part of
the shoe was made of leather and the
sole of wood. The SaxOns wore shoes,
or scoh, with thongs
In the year 1890, in the reign of Will
liam Rufus, the great dandy Robert was
called horned" because he wore shoes,
with long points, stuffed, turned up and
twisted like horns. Shoes of this kind
became fashionable, and the toes contin-
ued to increase in length until, in the
time of Richard IL, in 1900 they had at
tanned such an enormous extent as to be
fastened to the garter by chain of sill
yer and gold. The clergy declaimed We
hemently against such extravaganza ;
but the fashion continued, even for sew
eTal centuries. In 1893 the Parliament
Of England passed an act prohibiting
shoes with pixies more than two inches
long, under penalty TO maker and wear
er, and those who would not comply
were declared communicated. Even
at a late period shoes were twice the
length of the foot or 50 long as to pre-
vent 'kneeling in devotion at Gods
house."
In the year 1855 a company OF cord
waineTs was incorporated in old Boston,
England. By their charter it was or
dered that no person shall set up as
cordwaineTs within the said borough,
until such time as they can sufficiently
cut and make boot or shoe. to be ad-
judged by the wardens. That
If any foreigner, or person who did not
serve his apprenticeship in the said bOr-
ough shall be admitted to his freedom,
! he shall then pay to the vaTdens GO Is.
Sd. And that no fellow of
this corporation, his jOurneyman or his
servant, shall work on the Sabbath day,
either in town OF country" Shoes in
their present form came into use in the
year 1888, short time after the first
settlement of this cOuntTy.-Iolrd State
RsqiSter