Wichita eagle., 1888-05-01
PEDAL ETIQUETTE.
CORRECT DISPOSITION OF THE FEET
AT THE DINNER TABLE.

AT THE DINNER TABLE.
Observations on the Pecuiiarities OF Feet
and Their Owners-Phases of PedaIogy
in the Hotel Dining Room-A Woman's
Foot Asleep.
Of course the books on etiquette tell US not
TO put our feet on the table or in other
peoples laps but they dismiss the subject
without further attention and go on making
rules about the hands, letting people COM
init gross errors with their feet all their
lives without knowing it. There is some
thing pathetic in the thought that a man
who has been studying etiquette for years
and has got to such point that he can eat a
meal without committing single breach of
propriety may be displaying a gross disre-
gard of the foot rules, so to speak. There is
no deaf and dumb alphabet of the feet but
they often speak volumes
The most appropriate place to study the
subject is at some large, popular hotel, where
you can see displayed all the examples OF
pedal eccentricity at once and thus acquire
in a few short happy hours what it would
take years to learn by inviting people to eat
NJ your own mousse
FEET FROM ALL QUARTERS.
Here you find feet from all quarters Of the
globe, belonging to both sexes, of all sizes
and shapes, innocently displaying all their
natural vagaries, unconscious of the scrutiny
of the student. You will find similar feet
which have haunted you from boyhood,
which stretch across under the table clear to
the other side. They are always worn on
the lower end of long pair of legs and they
sweep the floor in wide radius, reaching up
to the knees Of the people on the opposite side
and leave large, wide deposit of mud on their
new white trousers. They rub against pet
corn with fond, yearning touch that makes
1t palpitate with emotion. These feet are
hard and callous, with knobs and knots on
them, and are encaSed in thick cowhide boots
You can walk on them or kick them with
vehement protest without any perceptible
effect upon their wearer. His feet are so far
away from his head that the pain III message
Is never transmitted to the cerebral depart
ment, dying out on the long journey.
This kind of foot never has any cOrns, chill
blains, ingrowing nails or other improve
mentS, SO that they never suffer from con-
tact with the cold, cruel world You can
study the coarse, unyielding character of
their owner from the feet end better than
you can from his face The ''palmistry' of
the feet has not been written yet, but it will
be some day.
1t is the feet which betray mans lack of
culture. A man who is accustomed to stow
ing his weight away where it will be unob-
served and does not impede navigation, viii
not commit such breach of good manners as
TO place his feet in such conspicuous positions
that advertising agents want to rent space on
them by the month. There are other varie-
ties to be seen, some only variations of the
same peculiarities There are men, YOU will
notice, who crowd their feet under their
chairs, fasten them together solidly and use
them as fulcrums in tackling tough prob
lens in carving hotel steaks. These feet be-
speak certain sturdy, determined character
In their owners, but not the neanness and
smallneSs of soul possessed by the before
mentioned feet. The owner of these feet
don't sit up nights listening to his mortgages
draw Interest or throw banana peeIs on the
sidewalk, although he may be a man who will
get hold of a dollar and fasten to it with q
grip that dynamite won't loosen. The OBJ
servance of the old popular customs of put
ting the elbows on the table tucking a nap
kin under the chin and eating pie with a
knife always goes with these styles of feet.
HABITS OF SOME PEOPLE.
Very frequently you viii perceive that
some men have habit of keeping one foot
placed on top of the other as though it had
to be held down This is foolish habit, as
it spoils good shine and has no particular
beauty of pose to recommend it. Other
people swing their feet or oscillate them side
ways while resting on the heels. Then others
put them away up on the chair rurg, which
brings their knees up under tho table There
are men who could not eat the most tempting
$40 dinner because the chair had no rungs to
place their feet on The disappointed look
which comes over the face of one of these
men when he discovers his loss is pitiful to
witness.
There is a man with long legs so slim that
q cane fits and fills his Christmas stocking
who endeavorS with frantic efforts to get his
feet up ON the rung until the table just rises
up and prances Women are rarely notice
able for any of these little failIngs, but
sometimes they are found violating the rules.
Occasionally a woman slips off a tight shoe
under the table, and somebody accidently
shoves it out SO that the waiter can knock it
about forty feet down the aisle greatly to the
delight of the owner But this does not hap
pen very often in the more fashionable hotel,
nor is there found very frequently the woman
who sits on her foot. This is one of the home
traits which she fails TO carry outside. Once
in awhile, however, even at the hotel table,
a woman will get her foot absent mindedly
into the seat of her chair and sit on it until
it goes to sleep. When she endeavors to rise
she falls over on the table into the central
dish and causes considerable emotion among
the guests. She can pass it OF, however, aS
q fainting spell-a resource which few men
possess-and she thereby escapes the ridicuIe
of the unfeeling New York World.