The herald., 1894-07-31
THEIR DAINTY FEET.
A SHOEMAKER TALKS ABOUT THE
"GROUf{D PLANS- IN tliS BOOK.


Causes Thcrcof-Ecels and Tocs--Hand
some Feet VIII Como From the Presen
Style Of Easy shoes.
When woman can hove a pair of shoe
made to order and still retain her self es
teem, it is q sign o. one of two things
rither her vanity is colossal, or her foot il
idoal Women, as rule, however, arc mo-
enormously self ccuccited, and rs fol
ideally formed feet they arc as raro a!
crystal slippers. Tllerefose the average
woman wis readily r.menlbcr the misgiv
ings she has felt when tho shoemaker has
planted her foot in the middle of blanl
white pago and drawn aaoft pencil around
IT,
That moment of susp mse is enough tc
mako woman wish she had bought shees
at bargain counter all her days. When
the man lifts his CUSTOMERS foot to take
tho other measurements, she always steals
a glance at tho outline and compares il
with the ono on the opposite page, the
Photograph, SO to speak, of soine unknown
woman. If the foot of the unknown is
larger or moro crooked or inolc adorned
about tho joints than hers, the customer
is in a humor to order three pairs at once.
Otherwise the shoemaker may prepare
himself for an exaoting and fault finding
customer in the woman he has just meas
ured.
A poet should never be allowed to look
into shoemakcrs order book Not thu
most romantic of them all could ever
writo a sonnet aftezyEard to her little
fect.'' 1t is true thai Milton may have
had q glimpse of sollo of these outlines
when ho mentioned ''the light, fantastic
tpo,' for anything moro eccentric than
the pictures in a shoomaker's book cannot
lo imagined.
There is q little shop in Sixth avenue,
ne; VI Eighteenth street, where German
sho smaker is always at work. He has
benob b in small room back OF tho shop,
and there hc literally pegs away from
morning till night. There are one or two
statesmen in tho shop, and there is mys-
terious cutter who comes and goes from
some underground cavern, and there is a
big gray cat purrine sleepily among the
leather shaysngs and sharpening her an
ciept claws in tho shocmaler's trousers.
1t isn't of tho same atmosphere with the
hustle of TIM shopping district and the roar
of the elevatnd trains. The shoemaker is
an observer and keeps his own gait, unhur-
ried and unda disturbed by the scramble 60
ing on around him. He was Turning over
the leaves of an order book the other day
when the reporter went in. On each page
was an outline of foot.
"There's pretty foot said the report
or admiringly, indicating slender outline.
YES" responded the shoemaker.
''But what foot tilat man must have''
pointing to gnarled outline ON the oppo-
site page.
LADY. you mean," said the shoemaker
after deliberately surveying the drawing.
'That isn't woInan's foot" said tho
reporter incredulously.
These are all outlines of women's feet,
running over the Leaves and displaying a
collection of queer outlines which any one
would have taken for relics of company
of freaks. Twenty years from now you
won't find such pictures in our books. AT
any rate, there won't be so many of them.
Women are taking better care Of their feet
now than they did 20 years ago. These
are, most Of them, older women who have
abused their feet You see the result
"What is the most common defect you
have to allow for in fitting people to shoesso
GA large joint above the great toe. Many
people have developed this joint as well
as the great toe itself till there is regu-
lar cushion underneath them both. This
throws tho weight of the body over onto
the outside of the foot Such people tread
more heavily on the outside, run the heels
over in that direction and finally get clear
OF Of the sole and literally walk on the
yanlp of the shoe"
'sHere are diagrams of the right and
left foot Of the same woman, !" and he
showed two pages with drawings entirely
different. 'In this case it was bunions.
Sometimes an accident to one foot Is re-
SD onsible for the difference and once in
awhile they have always been unlike with
out either one being crippled. Wo often
put o)rk In the heels of shoes to make a
person taller. We can add from one to
two inAhes in that way When we do it
for ma n, it is generally because he has q
sweetheart who is taller than he Is. The
idea doesn't t generally last longer than the
honeymoon, though, for it isn't what you
might call solid comfort to go around on
your toes ali the time. We oftener do it
for young LADIES, especially actresses, who
like to appear tail"
How about kointed toed shoes?"
''They are all night il people will only
get long enough ones. Here, for instance,
10 the outline of young lady's foot 1t
measures 8, but ON Piecadilly last her
shoe to be safe and comfortable ought to
be 8 "a. We used to make shoes only one
size longer than the foot measured, but
now VIC make them two or a1 sizes
longer"
''How about russell shoels"
"They arc about the best shoes for sum-
mer wear. They are move porous and do
BOT draw the feet"
What about low heels?'
"The lower tho instep the lower the
heel may be. We bavo to study the anat-
omy of the foot" drawing out some
charts showing the bones, nerves and
muscles Of the feet, land IL this arch,
which makes the instep, is pronounced,
why, you can wear higher heel than a
fiat footed person can. That's ali there
is about it..
What Is the average size Of shoe worn
by New York women now?"
From four to a five"
'Isn't that larger size than they used
to wear''
"Oh, yes. but they have larger comfort,
too and protticr feet inside their Shoes u
and the shoemaker smiled shrewdly. Now
York Sun.
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