Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-10-03

Physicians In Chicago Express Their
Views on the InnOVatIon-Most of
Them Consider 1t Thoroughly In
Accord With Health - One Has
Grave Doubts, However.
If ones toes are pink and shapely
and the curves Of ones foot are grace
full and alluring, it Is no offense against
modesty, hygiene or the artistic pro-
prieties to appear in public sans shoes
and sans stockings, as society women
are doing in England, according to a
recent cable dispatch.
At least many Of the good doctors Of
Chicago say ii isn't, and they are as
well qualified to pass judgment on
question of pedal ethics as any set of
men and women In the universe, says
the Chicago Post. Almost to n unit,
chiropodists included, they stand for
the sandal for women provided always
that the innovation is confined to those
feet which. uudisfigured by unsightly
appurtenanccs. are things Of beauty
and joys forever.
Through the restless waters OF the
broad Atlantic there hurried this pant
ing piece of news:
London, Aug 3.-rhe latest seaside fad Is the
wearing OF sandals by grown persons. Many girls
seem to be especially taken with the new idea.
The sandals are generally worn without stockings
The craze has spread even to London, where well
dressed women can be seen sandaled in the park
With the receipt in America of this
interesting intelligence three questions
thrust themselves forward demanding
to be answered. First, would the ex
posure attendant upon the adoption OF
the custom be physically injurious!
Second, would the frank exploitation
of the pedal extremities in a state OF
seminudity be a breach Of the rules
and regulations hedging mOdesty In
dress? Third, is the undraped human
foot, taken as n general thing, suffi-
ciently pulchritudlnous TO be classified
with the objects pleasing to the eye?
To some of these queries, not all Of
them, the physicians Of Chicago has
tened to reply.
Quoth Or. +. Fletcher Ingals: "My
sanction of custom like that of sandal
wearing for women depends greatly
upon the women. If they have good
looking feet, the sandal habit meets my
approval. If their feet are not good
looking, l should frown upon the inno-
walton, and do my best to stihe 1t in its
iEcipiency."
DR.. c. Pruyn Struggled also quail
fed his conmendatiOn by the prOviso
that there must be contours and warm
tinted cuticle visible between the san
dal straps.
provided the sandals made the
proper sort Of disclosures | have no OBJ
lection to the abandonment OF boots
and stockings by women in temperate
climates" he said. I'm fact, think it
is a good thing. We should be much
healthier and better If we came into
closer contact with Mother Earth. Sci
dom do we or the cities touch the black
soil, and then only with shoes on.
When l was in general practice, | COM
pared the healthy brown boys playing
In bare feet over in the open territory
west OF State street with the thin, hot
house little chaps in the fashionable
districts farther east, and l attribute
the difference 10 the bare feet. / be-
lieve we should be better without
Shoes"
DR.. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, whose
knowledge Of the feminine foot is, for
obvious reasons, more perfect, not to
say more extensive, than that Of her
brother physicians, sanctions the san
dal for women in a manner definite and
unqualified. She scorns the skepticism
concerning the physical beauty Of the
toes Of her sex and says this:
"Of course the sandal for women is
an institution to be commended. Can
you imagine anything pleasanter than
to doff shoes and stockings on hot
day to go walking over a grass carpet
ed lawn with nothing ON your feet save
sandals? OF course you can't. Shoes
and stockings cause a great deal of Ill
health, think"
Possibly it is the openwork hosiery
fad that has led DR.. Sanger Brown tC
have grave doubts concerning the pink
possibilities Of the female foot. At any
rate he side stepped all propositions ex-
cept that Of health and condemned the
sandal craze as hyglenlcally unwise.
II don't want to discuss anything but
the health question:" said he, land
about that | will say that | think soci
ETY. women who expose themselves by
wearing sandals are exceedingly un,
wise. In climate like that of London
persons in good health who are out of
doors a great deal might divest them
selves Of shoes and stockings without
harmful consequences, but for society
women the practice is dangerous"
Or. Ellen Hancock Lyon llkens the
sandal to the short skirt and asserts
that when sanctioned by custom 1t will
be considered not a whit more immod-
est. Besides this, DR.. Lyon has great
faith in the health producing qualities
of the bare foot and also Of its power
~ please when revealed through the
Openwork OF u sandal.