The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-06-14
FITTING SHOES FOR LADIES.

Reasons for Banishing the Masculine Clerks
and Substituting Women.
Chicago News.
A plump young woman with business-li like air
and blonde hair of too assertive a sanguine tlnge
to denote angelic mildness of temper walked
/ down the aisle of downtown shoe store and
seated herself in the department allotted to
ladies' goods.
81 wish to get pair of No. 2 kid button boots,
last, said this young woman to the gray haired,
fatherly old man who had distanced the two spry
young clerks in the and reached her first.
Her voice had the same practical assertion as if
she said to a waiter in a restaurant: Bring me
a sirloin steak, rare.o She bent over and com
menced to inhibition her right boot. Instantly
the good old gentleman dropped on one knee,
la Chesterfield, to perform the operation for her
The young woman kept her foot on the floor;
the hem of her garments had modestly covered
her ankle The old man swept aside her skirts
as if he had contempt for feminine trammels and
was an advocate of the Dr. Mary Walker reform
method of Dress With enc hand he seized firm
and unbushing hold about three inches above
her foot, and with the other swiftly completed
her unfinished work. He threw aside the shoe
and revealed q neat, black stocking stretched
tightly over a smallsh foot a slender ankle, and
disappearing from view in rounded curves. he
did not loosen his grasp, but gazed abstractedly
at the object he held as if consumed with consid-
GRAFTON of the particular style of shoe demanded
by that particular style of foot Then he selected
O couple of pairs from boxes on the shelves and
submitted them to her inspection She ex-
pressed her preference, and he prepared to try
boot on her foot First he slipped it on; then he
slipped it off He smoothed out the toe of her I'M
wrinkled stocking, then the ankle Again he
placed the shoe on her foot But her hose APP
peared to be unsatisfactory to him, for he re.
moved the boot once more and smoothed out
imaginary folds with apparent ly greater earnest
ness than before. The reporter reflected that
his twenty-five cent4socks must fit to a IT." for
they never seemed to occasion any boot and-shoe
dealer any trouble when he was fitted out with
foot-gear His meditations were interrupted by
the sound of resounding slap, and he lifted his
eyes to behold the spectacle of an astonished old
man rubbing one cheek and an irate damsel
marching down the store toward the entrance
with shoe in her hand. Each reddish hair
above her forehead seemed to stand aggressively
on end. She stopped near the door, hastily put
on her boot, buttoned it. and passed out The
+ two young men changed significant glances, and
the Old one busted himself in replacing his stock
Then there drifted through the reporters
memory conversation he had heard few days
ago between two ladies ON a street car
81 think l am neither prudish nor suspicious
of evil intent said a pretty brunette, "but
fail to comprehend why certain idiosyncraSles
should be tolerated from the man from whom
buy nv shoes when he fits them on my feet shat
1 should resent as a gross insult at any other
time. The average individual who tries on
shoes for woman is very presumptuous He is
apt to be captious about the TT Of her hose. and
they require great deal of attention from him.
siderably higher when he buttons her boots than
she does herself There is no necessity for it
'But what can you do about itl' replied her
companion" You are at a disadvantage The
man who fits on your shoes can always declare
his innocence of intentional improperly. Moth
ing makes a woman so ridiculous as the resent
ment of an insult when either none is intended
/ or the person who offered it can take refuge in
the assertion that it is a matter of her own pru-
dish Imagination"
"Do about it, / shall advocate from this time
forth the propriety and expediency Of having
women clerks in the womens department of
shoe stores. There is no more reason why
woman should not be shoe dealer than mil
liner. In glove stores and every branch of bust
ness devoted to women's apparel there are wo-
men clerks. Why the shoe business should be
almost exclusively given over to men 1 can't I'M
derstand The man milliner is not particularly
Objectionable except as the proverbial daisy
among dudes. But the man filter of women's
shoes is a relic of the days when the only avo
cations open to women to earn their livelihoods
were domestic service, spinning weaving and
sewing There is no more delicacy III having
your feet put into harness by man than there
would be in having your corsets fitted and your
Jerseys pulled into shape and smoothed INTO
glove-like tightness by his hands"