The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-11-24
A CORN DOCTORS OFFICE.
A CHrRoPoD1sT TALKS ABOUT HIS
PROFESSION.


Removal-Lady Patients.
"There is not much honor" said a
Chicago chiropodist to q Herald reporter,
ITO be gained in comparing, but there
is lots of money, if one can get in the
! way of.jt. And that is what most Of us
are aftJsS'
Wins proportion of the citizens of
AmericaiAre afflicted with corns2"
"Corns and lb1Rions-fully nine -tsnths'
perhaps MOS In fact. nearly every
one suffers from orp or the othor."
'And do all these wear tight bootsT
'By no means! flight boots are not
.Athe only cause of trouble with the feet
Some people are So tender-footed that
any shoe will breed trouble for them,
dad, in general, loose shoe is as bad as
or worse than tight one. The fact is,
it is sufficiently clear from our standpoint
that the human foot was never intended
to be confined. Nature, left to herself,
would develop spiAyfooted race. Look
at the negroes, whose delivery from saw
agery has been comparatively recent
| look at them and at their feet. There
| is no denying that trim foot aud neat
| toe are denominations in the sight of
/ providence. But what then! Is it not
| of these denominations that we make our
! livingY"
sit must not be supposed" the "doc-
tori went on, ''that ALL or half of the
corn afflicted come for professional
treatment. If they did corn doctors
would be thicker than dentists. AS a
matter of fact there is not mo1e than one
Chiropodist for every 1875, 600 of the pop
] all aA oF
in the cities, and the country people are
fain to bear the ills they have, or oper-
ate upon themselves with discarded ra-
zors or like barbaric weapons. The per-
ipatetics occasionally visit them, but this
branch of the profession is not numer-
Gus. You may perhaps be able to con-
| jure up the picture of the old man
welding his old razor of a Sunday morn
ing in the private room and streaking
the air with blasphemy Beause his toe /.
weren't on the other ed of Iris foot.
where he could get at them, Well, look
on that picture and then Oh this"
And he opened the door of little
room of his reception parlor."
This" he said, lis our mems oper-
ating-room. See, here is lounge upon
which the patient may recline; or he may
| take this chair. Observe that the foot Of
/ the divan is lighted by this window, and
| by this gas jet and reflector That is not
only for our good, but for his, for every
man who has a corn cut wants to hold
the afflicted member up to the light and
vituperate it from the other end of his
! person. 1t relieves the patient and doesn't
Ietard our work, so we do not OBJ t.
''And look here, ," continued the artist,
] opening a little drawer filled with
shining, wicked looking tools, whose
purpose was obvious Contrast that
shining array with the ragged edged ra-
/ Zor of old. What are they all for2 Oh,
if you could see some feet you wouldn't
/ ask. You wot not of the hidden curves
and secret springs of woe which a foot
| may bear And then (but this is G..
! tween ourselvesj an abundance of apna-
ratus looks well. 1t impresscs the patron
with the idea that he is getting a good
deal for his money"
'Do the men swear much while you
are at work on themN
prithee withdraw that question !
am not what is called a pious man, but
I / have Aeard things said in this very
1 roorh-in this very spot where you now
sit-which have made my hair curl"
"Women come here too?"
'Not much; they used to-that is, we
used to have only one operating
/ but it did't work The ladies have more
/ than their share of corns in this life, but
they differ from the men, in that they are
/ ashamed of their atlliction. I've known
a woman to come up in the hall, listen at
the door and helr male patient groan
/ ing and swearing inside, and then turn
/ and limp away. So we had to make a
separate ladies~ehtrance md ops ating-
SSonsAand Qow. the softer sex comprise
I twofhirds% or tienAY :.
"The dear, foolish profitable ladies, "
sighed the artist, lapsiDg into apostro-
phe. "Ihey will wear the tightest shoes
/ on their dear, little tender feet, and they
| do have such frightful corns and bun.
ions and so many of them. Did you
/ eve think of itl A woman's foot is one
/ of = &e things she can't make up Suthe
/ more she puts on it the worse it is, and
/ if she wears her shoes too tight she must
/ pay for it with enlarged joints and ten
/ der toes till she reforms. Oh, the aghs
/ of remorse that l have heard in tn
room yonder-no, you can't 90 in there,
I for my assistant is busy with a lady who
is being trimmed down to No. 3 shoe
for the ball tonight. She will be in
again next week, for the shoe will by
] that time havevllndone all the good the
1 scalpel does to-day. Nain2 OF course
4 She is-like all the rest of humanity,
male and female. But she is a nice lady
/ and-a very good customer"
"Does the msdical profession recog
nile your brancRP
"Openly, not at all; actually, yes.
have some of the best physicians of the
city for regular patrons. You see, il
doesn't make any difference how wise a
man he is, or how skillful-he can't get
at his own feet, and, if he could, he
couldn't do them any good. And it is
with doctors as it is with the shoemaker S
wife and the blacksmith's mare they
are never shod properly and have the
worst corns in existence"