The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-09
Women Are Not So Vain as
Men i'm the Fit of Shoe

The majority of ST. Paul women
wear a No. AZ shoe.
Those who do not wear this size Shoe
are apt to wear a larger rather than
smaller one.
St. Paul women of the better class
are nerfectIy frank about the size OF
shoe they wear and do not try to con-
ceal the fact when they have large
feet.
Sanity City women are very dlfhcult
to please in the matter of fit of their
shoes, and while they are for the most
part courteous it is not an unusual
circumstance for a women to consume
the greater part of forenoon having
Il shoe fitted.
The above is some of the informa-
ton obtained through interviews with
experienced statesmen in shoe stores
and in the shoe departments of de-
partment stores, in regard to the kind
of shoe worn by st. Paul women.
Much Of the information, however, was
not given in the above boiled down
form. for to the experienced salesman
womans shoe is apt to furnish the
text for an eloquent sermon, provided
there is time for it's delivery.
Women Have Changed.
"Ten years ago women were so vain
about their feet that it was necessary
for shoe manufacturers to conceal the
real size of Shoe said such a sales
man Yesterday. For some years 1T
was customary to stamp the mark in
plain figures at the side of the shoe
Or on the sole near the heel, but when
customer found this size to be
CHI NV .i.1f1 demanded q
smaller SIZE and, as a consequence,
went away with a pair of very tight
boots She wore them and they gave
her pain, but instead of blaming her
own vanity, she blamed the shop and
seldom returned to buy another pair of
boots there. That is the reason why
it is impossible today to tell the size
of a pair of shoes by any mark that
may be found on it. Take this pair OF
high heeled shoes, for instance,
and the salesman took up an exceed
inglv dainty shoe with the high arch
beloved by all womankind, and almost
turned the soft leather inside out. GU
see, there is no size marked IN TINS
SHOE either under the tongue or at
the side. The salesman alone knows
the size and if he is an experienced
man he will not mention it to the
strongest minded customer. Here in
st. Paul the majority of women wear
a -four and a half shoe, which is
rather small size, I think, when one
considers that the majority of st. Paul
women are above the average IN
height. The prettiest foot l ever fitted
took a No shoe, but it was beautf-
f11llv SHAPED foot slim and we'll arch
ed
After Comfort Now.
do YOU know that during the past
five or six years. women have not been
having very much attention to shoes"
said a veteran Shoeman, in a sixth
street store $50 long as a shoe had
good thick sole and felt comfortable on
the foot, the average customer was
d)ntent. But this period of lndltter-
ence is passing, 1 think. AT any rate,
many of our customers are going back
to the thin soles, high heels and SOFT
leather | think women went to eX-
tremes in the matter OF. what they ~eall
sensible boots From my own expert
ence in fitting shoes l know that corns
are lust as prevalent today as they
ever were and the woman who aHects
the extreme common sense boot is
generally the worst sufferer. Few
women have occasion to be on their
feet as much as men and when they
don the heavy boots for walk the
unusual weight callouses the skin and
corns and bunions are the result.
moderately heavy shoe, moderately
high heel, the Cuban, for instance, ana
a good fit make the ideal walking shoe
for a woman, l think
Not So Vain as Men.
"Are women vain about their feet?
Not half so much as men. Certainly
not in recent years, at any rate.
worked for ten years in shoe store
which catered exclusively to men, ana
I have not found women half SO fas-
tidious in regard to the selection OF
their footgear as 1 found the majority
of men, And if man really has
small and well-shaped foot" said the
salesman, grinning over his base be-
trayal of his sex's little vanity, why
he is much more difficult to satisfy
than woman with a pretty foot"
Il suppose all the uncomfortable
things come together" said an obSerV-
ant saleswoman who fits shoes in one
of the. big department stores. Women
are wearning the poke bonnet hat, the
tight skirts and, Of course, they must
don French heels. Yes, we are selling
an unusually large number of these
high heeled shoes" she answered, in
response to question. Feet that nave
no business in a French-heeled shoe
are being thrust in there and any day
you can see women hobbling painfully
along the street in shoes that do not fit
them. No, l haven't been In this de-
partment long and 1 will be glad when
I'm transferred for l do not like the
work. Moreover, do not think wom-
en- customers like one of their own sex