The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-05-02
In FEET
IN SPITE OF oiSToRTiNc SHOES THEY
CONTINUE TO TELL TALES.
Mental Traits shown In the Formation OF
Toes and Insteps-Ths Big Toe Said to
Signify Great Deal-Ihe Foot Of Abra-
ham Lincoln.

Signify Great Deai-The Foot Of Abr.-
ham Lincoln.
There Is character in feet In spite of
shoes that compress and distort and boots
which cause bunions to riseiike mountain
chains there is still enough OF the aborig-
iDal human foot Left for the anatomiss &C
read disposition and thestemperament In
every line Of it. Everybody knows that
from the outline of the hand, in nine cases
out of ten. a trained observer can tell what
manner Of man bears it. The foot Is the
lower hand. 1t conforms In its structure
with that of the hand. The toes are short
ened digits- Tarering fingers and q grace
fully modelled hand shgw good breeding
and innate refinement. The hand of a
man OF artistic temperament is slender.
and the fingers are long and taperiug.
Feet incased IN patent leashers, with
Picadilly toes DO not get much Of chance
to show anything about the character Of
their owner. After they have been kept
In such unyielding enameied collins for q
few years there isn't really flesh and
blood foot there any more. There's cal
lOused, bumpy, gnarisd and warped sort
OF a thing there which shows no charac-
teristics except perhaps lack of common
sense in the owner But there are men
and women whose feet have the semblancs
of the shape they had when they romped
around the nurseries before the days Of
narrow toes and French heels.
All the character cannot be obliterated
from the lines of the human foot even in
these degenerate days.
Modern feet are not pretty as a general
thing. Most of them are positively ugly.
Did you ever see an u2lier member than
that represented IN a drawing of Abra-
ham Lincolns foot which is exhibited by
a Broadway shoe dealer? From the pic
ture you would think that you were look
ing at the gnarled and distorted taproot
of an oak. The most noticeable thing
about that foot is the broad, firm big toe.
Such toe shows strength Of character,
firmness and executive ability. A weak
big toe would point inward This toe was
planted firmly and squarely. 1t ourled up
little toward the end too. These To-
trousse toes show independence and deter
mination. There are persons who have
noses formed that way, too and you know
what kind of dispositions they have.
Some anatomists say that every too
should be in direct line with the foot.
It's hard to judge foot in that plumb
line and spirit level way.
The man who toes well out as he walks
and steps squarely upon the bali of his
foot has, as general thing, those assertive
big toes.
There's self assertion and go in the big
toe it ought to be strong and bread 1t
does more work than the rest. 1t has
more character.
Some persons have short, square toes, all
about the same length, and an assertivs
big toe that looks as though il was anx-
ious to get out and look the world square
ly in the face. They are the practical men
and women. They look at everything
from the standpoint of hard, common
sense. Their insteps are low. Their heels
are broad, and they set them down in
way which gives the impression that the
owners know exactly what they are talk
ing about They are the men and women
who make up their minds to have thing
and invariably get it Those are the feet
which are oftenest stamped, and the
stamping. II the foot belongs TO woman,
Is accompaDiec-hy a toss Of the head. It's