Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-07-12
WHICH SHALL IT BE?

= T. High and Frenchy. q Medium and popular.
4 q Low and sturdy.
And there are others who declare with
3ust a. much calmness and conviction
that tho commonsense shoe has placed
ats heel on the neck Of all other styles;
that the corset is going the way Of the
hoopslrirt, and that the combination suit
and the divided skirt having combined
their forces are entering upon an undi-
vided field of feminine favor.
Youcan take whichever one Of these
vieks you prefer, or you can hold each
ope on alternate weeks. The newspaper
4 yeader Is pretty sure to see one or the
fcther triumphantly advanced about that
cften. But there is one safe rule Of Gre
dence for all articles Of this character.
Il they contain merely assertion, with
no facts gathered together TO back the
i assertion, they prove but one thing-that
the writer wears the kind of clothing
whose rapid progress or whose firm hold
on feminine affection she champions.
For myself, have been particularly
4 amused and sometimes mystifed by the
frequency and contradictory character
Of these articles on the subject Of shoes.
J Il ono week read an article which con-
Z vinced mo that the feminine world was
Z teetering around on heels Of the highest
Y md Frenchiest description, and that
4 nothing less than tho stake could induce
tt TO lay them aside, the next week l
4 would be forced to believe just us firmly
that the French heels We're thing of the
4 past and that femininity was humping
about in shoes whose soles and heels
! were Of almost equal thickness SO one
day before the summer exodus began
I started ont to do little census taking
and get at the truth of the matter
4 wanted to find out just what kind Of
shocs women really are wearing.
1t was Saturday afternoon, when the
fashionable part of Broadway was
crowded with well dressed women, and
I brisk breeze whisked its way down tho
street and aided my Investigations.
From Broadway passed up Fifth ave-
( uuo through the region of the city's most
4 exclusive wealth and fashion. From
Fourteenth street up to Sixtieth count
y ~ md classified all the feminine heels
zboy fell easily into three distinct classes
-after the manner of the accompanying
fIlustrations-very low, medium and
vsry high. And out Of every hundred heels
there were on an average about ten very
high ones, thirty very low and sixty mo-
dunn. The figures are roughly stated,
but they are very near the percentage
+ developed by the count.
y Except on upper Fifth avenue, where
4 tho possessors Of the heels belonged to
Y that class whose attire is always reckon
q - the very glass of fashion, the me-
dunn heel was the favorite. But there
the lowest and sturdiest of heels and tho
broadest and thickest Of soles were the
rule For dozen blocks on this upper
Fifth avenue only two pairs Of French
4 heels were seen and they We're both on
the feet Of nurse maids
81 Tho medium heel passed through quite
4 = variety of form, sometimes being SO
{ low and SO upright of bearing as to APP
Z proach very near the common sense
4 type, and sometimes being 30 tall and so
!. slanted that 1t neared the other extreme.
1t was noticeable, though, that ma
jority Of these heels showed tho former
Z oendency. Still another fact my love of
( candor compels me to chronicle, and that
4 fs that about half the women who wore
high heels limped and half the remain
der, though they walked firmly, wore
! panied and preoccupied looks upon their
faces.
After that tour of investigation de.
cided that French heels, for street wear
at least, are waning. The increased
number of low heeled and broad soled
shoes that appears in nearly all the shops