St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-13
Animadversions on the Lik-
ing Men Have for Sitting
With Feet Elevated.
Where These Earth-Spurning
Pedal Extremities Are Seen
to Best Advantage.
Character Displayed by the
Soles Of Different Looking
Boots and Shoes.
How a Mans General Make
Up May Be Told From
His Feet.

waited. Kate Field says that most of the
statesmen of Washington sit on their
shoulder blades. Kate probably tells
the truth, but were she to investigate
she would find that Washington states
men are no more prone to that sort OF
Indulgence than are other mortals of
the male persuasion. Americans are
probably more given to getting their
feet higher than their heads than are
other nationalities. Since everything
not quite au fait is by giddy New York.
ers and other inhabitants of the home
OF the AnglO-maniac Oh the eastern
shore of the Western continent called a
WeSternism, of course this free and easy
mode of sitting is attributed almost
wholly to the people who dwell in the
section where the Indian used to roam
and where E. G. Babb was able to secure
a public office. While the land ofex-
hilarating ozone is perhaps no more
subject to producing men with Heaven
searching feet, still there are some of
the aforesaid up here, and Minneapolis
has her share. 1t seems that the proud
arlStOcrat who has made fortune out
of plain, ordinary, every day earth, dis
dams to even as much as touch that
which has been to him a fountain of
gold, and. hence, gets his feet up and
his back down.
While these lifters of the pedal ex-
tremities are to be found everywhere,
in clubs, stores, offices, homes-all
places except churches-they are more
numerous in those hotels where the
Office faces the street. and where the
men who feel so inclined can easily az
range for the public to gaze at the bot
toms of their Waukenphasts while they
lOll in easy chairs and smoke or medi-
tate on the problems of life. And there
is good deal of character in the bot
tom of a mans foot. Many students of
human nature have repeatedly declared
that it is possible to tell mans chaTac-
teristics from the appearance of his
cast-off footwear. whether it be the SIS
per pair kinl or the brogan quality
which adorns the neither end of the la
boring man. But whole shoe is I'M
necessary. "Show me the bottom of
mans feet when he has his shoes on,
and | Will tell you what he is" said
Aristotle-or he might have said it.
Take walk along Washington ave-
nue. and notice the feet in some of the
windows. Here is pair of soies which
evidently belong to a pair OF well-made
shoes. The uppers, what little is visi-
BILE. are well but not UbtrUsively
BACKED. The feet within are strong
and active. They belong to some we'll
TODD business man, or mayhap, a tray-
cling salesman. Ii the latter, he is one
of the hustling kind who always attends
to business. Near this pair of feet is
another twain. which seem rather
neighborly. They are simmer than
the first pair and restless. They belong
to fellow drummer, but he is one of
the gay fellows who have sweetheart
in every town. Along little further
is pair of fine, Frenchy-looking boots.
Slim, with delicateiy arched insteps
and glossy surfaces, they, however,
lack action. They are the property of
some aristocratic scion of noble
low, but he is generally no good.
Ten to one the man behind those feet is
smoking cigarette. Over there on
the other side the room is pair of feet
staring the cold cruel world in the face.
The shoes covering them are all run
down at the heel in more senses than
one, and there are sundry cracks in the
sides of the uppers. A frayed pair of
trousers appear just above them. The
owner of those feet, shoes and trousers
is in hard luck. Every wrinkle of the
we'll worn leather tells of days on days
of fruitless search for work. The owner
struck town with few dollars, butt ey
are all gone, and he Sneaks in here now
to get away from the world and com
mune with his own bitter thoughts.
Not far from this last named pair are
two which have the same general
''goneness" at the stomach. Unlike
their neighbOrs there is sprucish air
about them which beats the light heart
which is being carried around on them.
What little backing still clings to their
sides has been rubbed until it shines
little-just little. But look higher
and there is no look of encouragement
on the face of the proprietor. He is
doubtless, while you are looking at him.
bordering on scheme which is to
bring him wealth. or pouring recital
of his glowing prospects into the ear of
some friend, while he airily puff two
fer as though it were genuine inn
ported perfecto. He is the the always
happy ne'erdowell.
Go TO another hotel window and you
will find more types. Here is pair of
broad-toed, Observation-Disclosures side
walk smashers. SOund-looking are
they, and show but little appearance of
wear, but they wear a neglected express
sion. Their owner is almost sure to be
wearing a rusty frock coat of ancient
cut, a black string tie. carelessly
KnOJJ6u, dHU an Olu-IaSDlOneu WaCcn
guard. He is a successful business nr
professional mar, bnt careless as to his
personal appearance. Here is one more
pair of shoes which loom up, large and
self-assertive. The have been BACKED,
but the polish is veneered with mud.
Observation-Disclosures
or-not shoes they are, and be-
long to reporter. But they are
pretty good honest shoes after all,
when the mud gathered in weary
tramps is knocked off. Many more in
stances might be cited, but there are
enough to illustrate the fact that man
can be sized up pretty correctly from
the appearance of his understanding.
The foot is not quite so eloquent as the
tongue-it will not speak so loudly nor
so forcibly-but it means quite as much.
Moral: Before accounting a man az a