Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1897-03-11
DEAD MEMS SHOES.
Some a tho superstitio.s That Arc Hold
About Thorn.

OEAOe MEMS .SHOES.
Some a the superstitioas That Ara Held
About Thorn.
Dead mems shoes is an express
sion that is familiar to every one &C.
customed to the use of the English
language. But there are few in this
country who are acquainted either
with its origin or with the impor-
lance which is accorded in many
parts of the old world to the boots
of the dead. Thus, in Scotland, in
the northern parts Of England, in
Scandinavia, as we'll as in Hungary,
Croatia and Roumania, the utmost
care is taken among the lower classes
to see that each corpse is provided
with a good pair of shoes before it
Is laid into the ground.
If the dead person happens to be
a tramp and to have been found
dead in a barefooted condition, there
will be always some charitable soul
to furnish a pair Of good boots for
interment along with the corpse,
and the writer of this article has
even known an inspector of police
in Scotland to purchase of his own
accord a new pair of boots and to
place them in the grave, reopened
for the purpose, of a murdered
stranger who had been inadvertent-
ly inferred barefooted the day be-
fore.
This practice, which likewise pre-
walls among the Tsiganes, as well as
in many parts of Asia, is attribute
BILE to the belief that unless the dead
are we'll shod when buried their
ghosts come back to haunt the To-
cality where they breathed their
last in search of a pair of boots.
These are popularity supposed to be
needed to pass in comfort and safety
the broad plains which the departed
soul finds that it has to traverse be.
fore it can reach paradise. Among
some nations these plains are de.
clared to be covered with furzes,
thorns and morass, while other
races claim that they consist OF
burning sands. These plains of suf-
fering-the belief in which, although
of pagan origin, has its modern
counterpart in the purgatory Of the
Roman Catholic church-are popu.
larly credited with forming a sort OF
antechamber to hell. It is for this
reason that the boots of the dead are
called "hell shoes" in Norway, Swe.
den, Finland and Denmark.
Sir Walter Scott, in his interesting
notes to "Minstrelsy on the Scottish
Border" quotes the following ex.
tract from a valuable manuscript il
the Cotton library dating from the
reign of Queen Elizabeth. It runs
as follows:
when any dieth certaine womer
sing a song to the dead bodie, recit
Ing the journey that the partye de-
ceased must goe; and they are Of be
liefe that once in their lives it il
goode to. give a pair Of new shoes tc
q poor man; forasmuch as before
this life they are to pass bare-foott
througha great laade, full Of thornes
and furzen-excepte by the meryte
of the almes Aforesaid, they have
redeemed-for at the edge Of thu
launde an Guide man shall meet then
with the sames shoes that were giver
by the partie when he was LIVING
and, after he had shodde them, dis,
misseth them to go through thicL
and thin without scratch or SCALE. y
This must be a very agreeable re.
Election to all gentlemen who have
bestowed their old boots on thei,
Wallets, or ladies who have in like
fashion gifted their maids. To be
sure the legend specifies new shoes,
but surely a pair Of s8 boots only
half worn counts for as much as 8
new pair of 81. 80 c~haussures. How.
ever, if one is to go Through thicl
and thin without scratch or scalle,r
it may be just as we'll to be on the
safe side and give away a good,
new, extra stout pair.-New York
Tribune.