The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-30
THE BOOTJACk.
The Passing of an Essential of Our
Former Civilization.

!
Former Civilization.
From the Memphis Commercial-Appeal.
! Poets have sung and rhapsodized over
| the passing away of this or that for centu-
ries, but no one has seen fit to inscribe a
line to the memory of the passing boot
! jack. 1t is a humble contrivance and emf
nenuy prosaic. and poets and rhapsodists
| could not have "dilated with right emo
ton" on il many centuries ago, because it
is only within the later centuries that our
noble ancestors have cohdescended or con-
ascended to wear footgear; and it is only
of comparatively late years that boots
have been worn Hence the booUack is the
product Of civilization, the child of civli-
cation and the victim of civilization. And
yet it is not without its meanings. 1t is
what Denis Florence MacCarthy might
| call "a prophet of the future and preach
er of the past" 1t is one of the many in
! dicia of evolution, one of the reminders of
change, one of the evidences of growth
and decay, of construction and annihila-
ton, of the birth and death of things.
People have long marveied that the
| French duke who was exiled to the forest
of Arden could find tongues in trees,
| books in the running brooks, sermons in
stones and good in everything" yet he
could also have found in the humble boot
| jack the hierophant of a sublime philoso-
ply, had such a thing as a bootjack been
in existence a the time; but it is probable
! that even dukes in those days either went
! barefooted or bundled their feet up in rags,
| held in position by rawhide thongs. 1t is
not wise to be too curious about those
days. We can admire the beautiful Rosa
| lind in her meanderngs through the forest
all the more if we forget that when she
married Orlando the loving couple had
! been many months distant from both the
| laundry and the bath tub. The bootjack
was unknown in Dodona or Delphi, and it
has never made any pretentions to oracu-
lar wisdom, but it bears message quite as
| interesting as any that has been vouchsal-
ed by lying priestesses.
The bo0tjack came late and 1t did no'
| stay long, but it witnessed many import
am changes. When our iilIsrious an
cesters deserted their caves AMI hollow
| trees and began 10 build Shelters for
themselves, they invented knives and
| hatchets, also Soon they ceased tearing
! the raw flesh from the bones Of animals
| when satisfying their hunger and used
| their edged tools to cut or mangle the
| carcass so that they could devour il the
! easier. Soon they discovered that it was
easier to put nut between two rocks and
crack it than it was to crush 1t with their
| teeth, besides the advantage of having the
| rock to hurl at anyone who attempted to
| deprive them of their repast. This was
| progress and evolution. This was an up
| lifting OF the race. No doubt The social
| economists of the day reioiced and point
| ed with pride" while the Populists wore
| crepe on their whiskers and viewed with
| alarm" But as this is a world of equa-
| tons and compensations, the advance in
| civilization brought with ii corilary draw
bacKs. The houses produced pulmonary
troubles, and turning the teeth Idle sowed
the germs of toothache The skins of ami
| ma he mo tough the
ticed teeth; they were no longer suitable
for food, and they were thrown about and
soon were put into use as covering for the
| human form divine, that hitherto had
worn only natures dOublet. Other CEN
turtles brought covering 10 the feet, and
| footgear developed until The boot was the
| result.
There are men living who can remember
when the bootjack was a luxury not in
reach of every one. An improvised boot
jack was often made by inducing a stout
boy 10 straddie the uplifted boot, face for
ward. He would lock his hands firmly
around the heel while the toe of the boot
pressed against his stomach. The other
foot OF the person seeking excalceation
would furnish the motive power, pressing
against the boys back until the boot was
removed, q feat usually announced by the
impact of the boys head upon the opposite
wall. In time the bootack beca me uni
versal. il was made of a forked limb at
first; then a cuneiform segment was cut
from a bit of plank, and then the metal
workers made them The bootjack be-
came common, and for years figured con-
spicuously. He need not be very old to
remember how the funny writers used TO
have the bootjack in their stories and how
often this missile silenced the cat concert
on the sned roof. He need have no great
list Of years behind him to remember when
he hurled the bootjack across the lawn at
! Bowser, and how ne trembled-cuIprit that
he was!-when his paternal ances tor storm
ed about not being able to find it on his
return. The bootjack was as common as
the frying pan or the fireplace, but its
name Is Ichabod. There are boys old
enough to vote who have never seen one.
We have pretty well outlived the boot
and the bootjack. When the country was
new, boots were necessary to protect the
ankles from the briars and underbrusn,
but only in certain localities does this
necessity exist and these are becoming
fewer every year. Even the degenerate
| representative of the erstWhile noble
Texas cowboy Is affecting buttoned shoes.
The briaTs are not so numerous now ana
a good many who have to go through
them wear light leggins. These require
no bootjack. Senator Bate still wears
boots and carries a oootjack in his grip
sack with his prayer book when travel
ing, but ne belongs to the old guard that
is speedily passing away. In specializing
on the decay or desuetude of the boot
jack, it is difficult not to include in our
ratiocinations the "Gotterdammerung"
and Donnelly's "Ragnarok," and wonder
whether or not we are about 10 catch a
glimpses of the twilight of the gods.
whether or not we are on the eve of
cataclysmal chaos, the harbinger of a new
and higher plane of life. Great events
sometimes herald their arrival by trifing
means And 1t may be that the passing
of the bootjack IS full of meaning, could
we but read the mystic symbols Far
back in the gloom and mystery of the
dead centuries mankind rose from naked
ness and barefooted savagery and scared
to the boot and the bootjack. The ten
dency is toward lighter clothing and foot
gear, and tendencies, though impercenti-
BILE in their movements, never halt tbroueh
the centuries until they reach the min
mate, which, in this case, will be aborig-