The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-07
Judged by Their Shoes.

There is in the shoe business in this city
a man who is a philosopher and a close
student of human nature. He has sold
shoes, by the pair and by the dozen, for
number Of years, and he marks the ma
terial and mental progress Of Georgia by
the shoes the people wear.
As men and women advance in intelli-
gence and refinement, they pay more at
tention to their feet. The foot of
cultured man or woman, if it has not
been injured by ill-fitting shoes, is, as
rule, thing of beauty and symmetry.
There is character in feet. A great de-
tective has stated that he is able to tell
whether a person is inclined to criminal
ity or honesty by noting his feet The
shape of the shoe after it has been
broken" to the contour of the wearer's
foot and popularity of gait, gives an iudi-
cation of the wearer's predisposition, and
the quality of the footwear is a pointer as
TO whether the crook-if a crook be under
considerations "high class operator"
or merely a common thief or tough.
But it is not the moral character of the
wearers that our Savannah shoe man
studies and comments on. 1t is not for
him to form opinions as to the morals of
his customers; or if he does so, 1t is his
business to keep his opinions to himself.
And he is a business man.
What he does observe, however, is that
within the last fifteen years the character
of the shoe trade has undergone an almost
entire change. Fifteen years ago most of
the shoes sold, especially to country
dealers, were a coarse goods technically
known as "kip," in "brogans" for men
and ''bals" for women. About that time
it was common sight to see the buxom
country lassies come to town, or visit the
village, in great shoes heavy enough to
drive nails with; shoes that gave them
the appearance Of being mounted on black
pedestals, and made their feet things to
be hidden under frocks as attachments to
! be sorry for and ashamed Of The
average price of the kip balls was $50
and the wearer scarcely ever thought of
paying higher price for a new pair of
shoes or of varying the pattern. The
shoes the men wore were "stogies, of
! cowhide a quarter of an inch thick
price 81. % to Sl.5O-and built as though
the idea was to give weight and the ca
pacity for humping and squeaking for
value received.
Now, however, "kip' shoes for wo-
men are the exception and not the rule
They have been replaced by calfskin
"dongola," kangaroo and kid, and these
goods are sold in the country in proper
tionately as large number as in the city
The country lassie now comes to
town in boots as neat, light and
| symmetrical as those worn by her
city relative She walks with a
grace and springiness that was never pos
sible with the old "kip" anchors, and is
not ashamed of it if her foot does protrude
| from beneath her skirts. Her brother
wears calf or kangaroo shoes of as mod
ern date as hers, and both look happier,
feel better and are better pleased with
the world. They have brushed up against
advanced ideas and gained knowledge
and dollars, and have, only naturally,
brushed up their shoes. The "stogies"
have been, for the most part, relegated to
the turpentine farms the bitches and the
convict camps. Our philosophical shoe
seller holds these facts to be incontro-
vertible proofs Of our advancing civiliza
ton. And he is probably correct.