Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-11-23
CHARACTER IN FEET.
Reading Life from the management OF the
TCasseu's Family Magazine


TCasseu's Family lIagazineJ
The use of feet Is more characteristic
than the feet themselves. Of course.
there is some character even IN shape;
there Is the common and careless fat
foot, and the neat foot, and the vain
foot, and the quick foot. In HerTick's
old poem the whole portrait of a dainty
white-slippered girl IS suggested by the
words:
Like mice beneath her petticoat,
Her little feet went in and out.
But the distinctions of character are
not seen, really, in the feet themselves
but In what the owner does with them.
Sometimes it is significant that their
owner does not know what to do with
them. He Is vulgarly, defiEntly self
sufficient and despises ceremony, so
when he smokes a cigar he puts his feet
on the mantlepiece, ont of the way. Or
he Is country pumpkin, painfully self
conscious, so he stands on one foot and
then on the other and shifts them about,
perplexed what to do with them, as i'll
bred folks, when they sit idle and so
cable, are perplexed by possessing a
pair Of hands. On the contrary the Top,
whose feet are clad without spot or
speck and regardless Of expense, knows
very we'll what to do with them; they
IRE part Of the exhibition which is his
constant care. In general, 1t is a sign
81 vanity to thrust forward habitually a
neat foot when one is at rest. A con-
ceited man nurses q leg and admires q
foot, which he twitches and twirls be-
meath his delighted eye, quite uncOn-
sciOusly and IN a different manner from
the fOp, for the vain man thinks of the
effect produced upon other people, but
the cOnceited man is satisfied with him
self, without any regard to the ordinary
mOrtals who may chance to be ObserY-
ing him.
Very different is the generous mind
of the philanthrOphist, who thinks con-
stantly Of the rest of the world, and not
of himself. There Is nothing cramped
about any Of his ideas or Of his posses
siOns. He fOrgets such small matters
as fashion and details Of appearance.
Except on state occasions, he considers
neatness to be a hindrance; everything
about him is large, from his benevOlen
schemes down to his well-wOrn shoes.
His stand is not alert, but patient,
we'll set on the ground; he is ready and
steady; he waits to give what he can:
and to do what he can, and while he
thinks of weighty matters, personal de-
tails are forgotten. He may walk fat
footed in old shoes; insteps and heels
are infinitely beneath his consideration,
so his foot is not the type that the dane
ing master believes to be the one thing
necessary for a gentleman; but he has
already fattened injustice under his
feet, and the horrors of the dancing
master shall never reach his ears.
This Philanthropic man has done a
Il IL l. J Ill -
road for crowds of feet of another type.
On the roads he has improved, the
hObnailed boots go more cOntentedly.
They (the "hObnails") are strong and
rather defiant; for instance, they have a
defiant way Of turning up. They stand
straight together, Just as their owners
as q class stand shoulder to shoulder.
Their size and width are suggestive Of
possible bad kicks; but their bulk and
hard-worn bend are also suggestive Of
work done; and the country could not
thrive nor the community exist without
the feet that wear hObnailed shoes.
The firm foot is the ordinary type in
men. A firm walk is a sign Of self-cOn-
troll as well as of power. When the
shoe thicken so Obstinately that the
foot can not bend it, and when the
walker does not care what noise he
makes, the frmness and power are de-
veloping to a degree that may incOn-
Venience weaker or more sensitive folk.
The weak foot Is more common. The
stand suggests a knOck-kneed body and
q mind not strong enough to make the
best of life-One might almost say alto
gether knOck-kneed character that is al
ways stepping crooked, and going its
way with uncertain gait.