Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1900-06-14
l 4ellow Shoe eriod


pair Of them rhe officials iii his of-
flee laughed II Tim, aud guyed him.
and though the shoes hurt his feet ill
he almost ta;rted. he would not take
them oil lor fear ii would look rs
though the bows lad driven him to 10
50 By Their ehanlug. Now that yellow
shoes have become legal tender. we
can all laugh. but il was serious
matter when man first decided to
wear them. First he talked about vel
low shoes II home until the family
had cons nted that they were a good
thing, bu. when pair was delivered
at his house every body said, u hope
you are not going to wear those
things and he was sad. He would
let them stand in his room for day
or two, till he cot 30 he would not shy
at them himself, and some morning he
would put them on. If he was a mid
dle-aged or elderly man, it was even
worse, for when he came stubbing his
toes down stairs and showed up before
the family, his wife or someone would
scream. or pretend to faint away, and
he would try to look as though he had
always worn yellow shoes. and per-
haps 60 into the Kitchen and spring
them on the servant girls, who would
hide their faces, and smoker when he
went out, and then he would take
them off and wear his old black shoes
downtown. 1t usually took the aver
age man about week of wearing the
yellow shoes around the house, morn
ings and evenings, before he dared to
wear them downtown, but some men
wore them downtown nights, at first,
and 1agned no one noticed them.
though when The wearer got near an
arc light he almost had heart disease.
Finally the middle-aged man got cour-
age, and he started out for the street
ear on bright morning with the yell
low shoes on, and tried TO look as
though he didn't know they were vel
low, but he couldn't help looking down
at them as he stood waiting for ear,
and it did seem to him as though he
never saw anything as yellow in his
life. Then the car would come along
and he wished there were not three OF
four passengers on the front platform,
smoking, for he could feel that they
were commenting on his shoes, and
he would swear he could see the mo-
torman laugh at some remark the
passengers made, but in an are or two
the front Of the ear would get BY, and
he would get on the rear platform
hurriedly. thinking no one ther,
would notice his shoes, but he would
stub his toe on the top step, and 20 on
to the platform on hop, skip and iumE
and plant one of the yellow boys OF
the foot Of passenger, who would ge
mad and say something about man.
bringing sole-leather portmanteaut
onto the cars and all the passenger
on the hind platform would look at th,
yellow shoes in pity, and when he 20
in the the the car he could hear then
laughing out there, and swearing, b,
would have given five dollar note i
he had never bought the shoes, anC
he would take them back now, onl'
the soles were soiled. He would 81
down in a seat with strange woman
and think the shoes were out of sight
and then she would lean over in from
and look down on them, and he coule
see man across the aisle huncl
another man with his elbow, and So,
them both look across at his feet
There might be dozen other men ol
the car with yellow shoes on, but no
body paid any attention to them. 5
man in front of him would look arounC
and sniff as though he smelled some
thing, and he knew it was his new vel
low shoes the man smelled, and the
perspiration would start out on hi,
neck and face The ordeal came wher
he had to get off the car He would
be away up in front, and wish he
could 20 out the front door, but b,
knew what he would get from thos.
smokers in front, SO he would boldly
walk back through the ear, and every
last passenger would look at his new
shoes, and ladies whose skirts were
out in the aisle would pull them in,
and when he got through the gang
OF pirates on the rear platform, and
was on the ground, he would swear to
get even with all of them before he
died. Then he would walk down the
sidewalk TO his place of business, and
it would seem as though he met the
whole population. and that every man
looked down at the yellow shoes, and
frequently he would be sure he saw a
smile on mans face that he could
not remember Of ever seeing mile be-
fore. and he would stub one toe
against the heel Of the other shoe. and