The Portland daily press., 1894-07-09
THEIR DAINTY FEET.
A Shoemaker Talks About the ssGrOund
Plans" in His Book.

Plans" in His Book.
Unpleasant Knots and Distortions and the
Causes Thereof-HeeIs and Toes-Hand-
some Feet VIII Come From the Present
Style of Easy Shoes.
When q woman can have pair of shoes
made to order and still retain her self es-
TEEN, it is q sign Of one of two things
either her yf:nity is colossal, or her foot is
ideal Women, as a rule, however, are not
enormously self conceited and as for
ideally formed feet they are as rare as
crystal slippers Therefore the average
woman will readily remember the misgiv-
ings she has felt when the shoemaker has
planted her foot in the middle of a blank
white page and drawn a soft pencil around
1t.
That moment of suspense is enough to
make q woman wish she had bought shoes
at bargain counter all her days. When
the man lifts his customers foot to take
the other measurements she always steals
a glance at the outline and compares 1t
with the one ON the opposite page, the
Photograph, so to speak, of some unknown
woman. If the foot of the unknown is
larger or more crooked or more adorned
about the joints than hers, the customer
is in humor to order three pairs at once.
Otherwise the shoemaker may prepare
himself for an exacting and fault finding
customer in the woman he has just meas
ured.
| A poet should never be allowed to look
into shoemakers order book. Not the
most romantic of them all could ever
write a sonnet afterward to cher little
feet" 1t is true that Milton may have
had glimpse of some of these outlines
when he mentioned 'sthe light, fantastic
toe," for anything more eccentric than
the pictures in shoemaker's book cannot
be imagined.
There is a little shop in Sixth avenue,
near Eighteenth street, where German
shoemaker is always at work. He has a
bench in small room back Of the shop,
and there he literally pegs away from
morning till night. There are one or two
statesmen in the shop, and there is q mys
FERROUS cutter who comes and goes from
some underground cavern, and there is a
big gray cat purrine sleepily among the
leather shavings and Sharpening her an
Gent claws in the shoemaker's trousers.
It isn't of the same atmosphere with the
hustle of the shopping district and the roar
of the elevated trains. The shoemaker is
an observer and keeps his own gait, unhur-
ried and undisturbed 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 q pretty foot" said the report
er admiringly, indicating a slender outline.
Yes, - responded the shoemaker.
But what foot that man must havel"
pointing to a gnarled outline on the oppo-
site page.
Lady, you mean" said the shoemaker
after deliberately surveying the drawing.
That isn't a woman's foot" said tho
reporter incredulously.
These are all outlines Of women 8 feet, +"
running over the leaves and displaying
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
IA large joint above the great toe Many
people have developed this joint as well
as the great toe itself till there is a regu-
lar cushion underneath them both This
throws the 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
off of the sole and literally walk on the
vamp of the shoe.''
Here are diagrams Of the right and
left foot Of the same woman and he
showed two pages with drawings entirely
different. I'm this case it was bunions
Sometimes an accident to one foot is re-
sponsible for the difference, and once In
awhile they have always been unlike with
out either one being crippled. We often
put cork in the heels of shoes to make q
person taller. We can add from one to
two inches in that way. When we do it
for man, it is generally because he has a
sweetheart who is taller than he is. The
idea doesn't generally last longer than the
honeymoon, though, for it isn't what you
might call solid comfort to go around ON
your toes all the time. We oftener do it
for young ladies, especially actresses, who
like to appear tall. /"
Elbow about pointed tQed shoes?"
''They are all right if people will only
get long enough ones. Here, for instance,
is the outline of young ladys foot. 1t
measures 8, but on Piccadilly last her
shoe to be safe and comfortable ought to
be 81. We used to make shoes only one
size longer than the foot measured, but
now we make them two or "a sizes
longer
elbow about russell shoes?"
"They are about the best shoes for sum-
mer wear. They are more porous and do
not draw the feet"
What about low heels?'
"The lower the instep the lower the
heel may be. We have to study the anat-
omy of the foot" drawing out some
charts showing the bones nerves and
muscles of the feet, land if this arch,
which makes the instep, is pronounced,
why, you can wear higher heel than a
fiat footed person can. That's all there
is about it. -
''What is the average size of shoe worn
by New York women now?''
From four to a f1ve'
isn't that larger size than they used
to Wear?''