The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-08-22
BAREFOOTED.
Grcenvillc Ne,US.

the left foot and the inner side of the
right. The complications and COM
binations of his stride and his in.
iuries are fearful and wonderful and
past finding out. He limps and hops
and hobbies. lie has stone bruises
and stumped toes, and nail or two
knocked off, an assortment Of briars
and thorns distributed through his
soles and many mementoes of encoun-
| ters with bits Of broken lass and stray
nails. He has escaped series of
cases Of lockjaw only by a series of
special miracles. Everything that
| can happen to the human feet has
happened to his. They are Scared
| and cracked, bruised and mashed and
torn and covered with enduring encrus-
tations of dirt.
Yet the boy is reasonably happy.
He is barefooted and therein an ambi-
tion cherished through all the drcary
days of winter is realized.
That winter time is not without its
attractions and mitigations. 1t con-
tains Christmas for one thing and an
occasional snow and opportunities for
pneumonia for another. But it is the
time of school and shoes and chilblains
and as it begins to vanish and the first
warm days glide along, heralding the
coming Spring and summoning tree
and bush and shrub and earth to deck
themselves for the gala season, the
| feet of the we'll regulated boy begin to
ache for freedom and the honorable
scars thereof, and the maternal ears
begin to endure siege Of importuni-
ties. AS the snake sheds his skin
| the juvenile of the genus homo feels
within him the mighty craving to shed
his shoes and stockings and to know
the luxurious GOODNESS and gladness Of
direct contact with the mother earth,
| the smooth caresses of running water,
the comfort of the damp green grass
| in which the barred feet and legs may
nestle even while tramping through it..
The average boy, let us all hope,
will know very many pleasures and
comforts during his life, but it is
doubtful if he will enjoy any quite so
heartily as the glorious freedom; the
inexpressible lightness and ease of
those first few days Of barefooted bliss
after the weather has settled warm
those days of delicious coolness, of
release from accustomed clogs, Of un-
fettered spreading Of bones and joints
on soft dust and yielding sand. The
boy who must wear shoes at this time
in Difference to the demands of health
or style or maternal or paternal die.
tates is a miserable and handicapped
creature. Everybody can outrun him;
everybody can out climb him. Other
boys can wade blissfully while he
must stay ashore and look impotently
and long vainly, an object of scorn
and taunt, of derision and pity, q
hopeless laggard in all youthful enter:
prises, the wretched victim of pedal
burdens and encumbrances.
When the long shadows have faded
from black to gray and then vanished
into the air to darken it, and the sum
mer day is over and the moon shines
cold and clear, her amber light replac'
ing the glow and beauty Of the quiet
sunset time, the boy finds his way
home, limping, hobbling, hopping
weary, sore. He is ready from the
tribulations and triumphs, the pleas
ures and mischances Of the day to bt
the recipient Of the care and ministra
tions of the mother to whose many and
varied tasks he adds so many. Their
is the time Of scrubbing and washing
of poultices and court plaster anc
bacon rinds applied to new cuts or ole
sores and throbbing bruises. 1t is the
time when sleepiness and 'wearines:
and pains arouse alternating tender
ness and irritation and when there is
sharp, persistent struggle between
housewifcly regard for the prcserva
tion of sheets and filial Indifference tt
the requirements of cleanliness and tt
all other considerations but the desire
to be in bed and asleep.
May the boy always find the sorcly
tried patience sufficient to endure un
til he has been at last disposed of witt
at least the outer crust of dirt lavcc
from feet and legs, with the new
wounds of the day duly doctored, thu
prayers said and the blessing giver
with the good night kiss, the tirec
limbs spread luxuriously upon tho
welcome couch and the busy, restles:
young head composed in that short
incompatible interval while ready
sleep is pressing surely and sweet J
upon the eyelids and consciousness i:
slipping away to fade into dreams, a:
the shadows awhile ago were absorbed
into the gray Of the twilight.
He will be man some day, thai
boy. Only the Almighty may know
where those feet Of his will carry him
how far or how grievously they may
wander or how diligently they may
hold to the straight path. Those
things are all in the future and as hi
sleeps and dreams he knows nothing
and thinks nothing of them. 1t is fol
the wearied mother who has wrought
as patiently as she might, who ha:
borne the burden of his sorrows anc
sins and mishaps, to remember that
she is making the memories for hi:
life and filling with bitterness Of
sweetness the cup from which he must
drink in the time to come. Whatever
his fate may be, wherever his lot may
be cast, let him wander as far, fall az
low or rise as high as he may, hi:
thoughts in the long after years vii
20 back and back through all the days
and vicissitudes he has known to this
time Of bare feet, Of long Summer days
of tired home comings and the tender
ministrations of mother hands. They
will return surely, and it is for tho
mother to say whether in the coming
back they will find tenderness anc
love and peace and gentle pleadings
for sweeter, higher, better and purcl
things.
And through all his life the boy
will carry the impulse for freedom, fol
release, for the casting aside Of bur
dens and hindranccs and fcttcrs which
move him in the warm days of Spring
to long for bare feet and release from
shoes and boots and stockings. HI
will find, too, in the freedom from
conventionalities and burdens plenty
| ,>1,