The Bossier banner., 1882-12-14
Shoes in Olden Times.

| Rude drawings are seen on the walls
of Thebes (B. G. 1495) Of shoemakers
performing their tasks, showing the trade
to be extremely ancient as well as emil
mently respectable; and we read in
Homer of Princes manufacturing their
own shoes. They have been made OF
various materials-hides, flax, silk, cloth,
wood. iron, silver and gold-and in a
great variety of shapes, plain and orna-
mental Among the Jews they were
made of leather, linen and wood. Soldiers
wore them of brass and iron, tied with
thongs. To put off the shoes was an act
of veneration. The Asfatics and Egypt
ianS wore shoes made of the bark OF the
papyrus. Among the Greeks the shoes
generally reached to the mid-leg, like
what we now call "boots.''
Ladies, as mark of distinction, wore
sandals-a sort of loose shoe, something
like modern slipper. Xenopohn 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 in
jury. The Roman shoes We're of two
kiuds--the calceus, which covered the
whole foot, and the solea, which covered
only the sole, was fastened with thongs
Ladies of rank wore white and some
simes red shoes; other women wore
black. The shoes of some of the Roman
Emperors were enriched with precious
stones. 1t is generally regarded as Il
mark OF etfeminacy for men to wear
shoes. Cato and other noble Romans
had no covering 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 nart of
the shoe was made of leather and the
sole of wood. The Saxons wore shoes,
or scoh, with thongs. r
In the year 1920, in the reign of
William Rufus, the great dandy Robert
was called t'the horned'' because he
wore shoes with long points, stuffed,
turned up, and twisted like horns.
Shoes of this kind became fashionable,
and the toes continued to increase in
length until, in the time of Richard H.,
in 13j0 they had attained such al enor.
nous extent as to be fastened to the
garter by a chain of silver or gold The
clergy declaimed vehementIy against
this extravaganza; but the fashion con-
tinued, even for several centuries. In
1893, the Parliament of England passed
an act prohibiting shoes with pixies more
than two inches in length, under penal
ties to maker and wearer. and those who
would not comply were declared excom-
municated. Even at a late period shoes
were twice the length of the foot or so
long as ''to prevent kneeling in devotion
at Gods house,
In the year 1858, company of cord
wainers was Incorporated in old Boston,
England. By their charter it was ordered
THAT no person shall set up within the
said borough as cordwainers until such
time as they can sufficiently cut and
make boot or shoe, to be adjudged by
the wardens. That if any for
eigner or person who did not serve his
apprenticeship in the said borough shall
be admitted to his freedomi he shall
then pay to the wardens G3 Is. Sd.
And that no fellow of this corporation,
his jOurneyman or servant, shall work
on the Sabbath day, either in town or
Shoes in their present form
came into use in the year 1888, a short
time after the first settlement of this
country.-IoaCa State Register.