The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-18
ABOUT SHOES.


The origin of shoes as an article of
wearing apparel is lost in antiquity.
Some of the very earliest glimpses of
footgear. as an historical subject are
found in the very earliest records OF the
past.
The practice of shoe and sandal wear
| ing can be traced back some thousands
! of years. and is probably of eastern orr
| gin Thus we find frequent mention of
the shoe. beginning with the Book of Elk
| odus along through the Bible as late as
| the Book of Acts.
Moses treated of shoes in his injunc-
/ lions to the IsTaelites, and there is men
| ton of shoes again in the account of the
| burning bush.
The ShOe-latChet we find as early as
the time of Abraham.
! Among the ancient Hebrews shoes were
made of leather, rush or wool; those of
/ the soldiers, sometimes brass or iron tied
with thongs passed under the foot.
The ancient Greeks wore various kinds
| of shoes, the women of distinction wear
/ ing sandals, while all the Lacedaemouians
/ wore red shoes. One popularity of the
Greek make was that they reached gen.
orally to the middle of the leg and were
often of gold and silk and very precious
stuff.
| The Egyptians made their shoes of
papyrus or palm leaves
The Romans wore two kinds of shoes.
/ the Caiceus, covering the whole foot, not
| unlike our modern fashion. and the san
/
| the foot. These were often sumptuous-
| ly ornamented, Caligula having his notch
! ed with precious stones. Nero went shod
with silver, while his empress refused to
/ take a step except on gold.
! Indeed, the Romans seem altogether to
| have been liberal patrons of the follow
| ers of Saint Crispin (the cobbler's pat
| ron saint, for the streets of Imperial
/ Rome were so blocked up with cobbler' s
| stalls that the Emperor Domitian was
| forced to remove them by force, bringing
1 up the legiOns of Rome for the purpose.
| In England. away back in the time of
/ William Rufus and the second Richard,
! shoes were worn with long, sharp points,
/ stuffed with tow and twisted in a spiral
form. This fashion took the fancy of
| the people of that day immensely and the
points went on increasing yearly to the
/ time of Richard III, finally becoming so
/ long they had to be tied to the knees of
the wearer to save him from tripping
| over him in walking. This tying or
/ fastening in the case of gentlemen was by
means of silver or silver gilt.
In Chaucer's time the upper part of the
| shoes were cut away to initiate a church
| window and the rank of the weaTer was
| known by the length of the points
| But the most splendid pair of shoes in
/ all the history of England was that SUI
! perb possession worn by Sir Walter Raj
! eigh on great court occasions. His were
made of buff leather, so gorgeously COW
/ cred with precious stones that they
/ exceeded in value the sum Of $4,000
]
/ coo, as money goes in 1907
The present general style of shoes was
/ introduced in 1888
! High heels were introduced in the reign
/ of Charles the SecOnd-again during the
| reign of James the Second and William
and Mary.
Women of fashion in 172O wore their
/ shoes square at the toes, and red heels
were all the vogue. thus:
| AT every step he breads the wall to lose
/ And risks. to save couch, his red-heel
/ shoes"
Moses was ordered to remove his shoes
/ and Joshua took his off when he assumed
command Of the siege of Jericho.
| Napoleon did much to encourage the
! shoenakers of Paris his object being il
/ better shOd TO fight the battles of the
empire.
During this period special design. OF
/ boots came into general use on the con-
| tinent of Europe under the name of Ma
/ poleons"
A few years later the Duke of yelling
| ton pOpulaTiZed A pattern after the same
style which in military circles have been
called ''Wellingtons' ever since.
/ Heavier makes have been called "Bluch-
ers'' after the old dragon of Frederick OF
/ Prussia and part victor OF Waterloo.
/ They're still selling Piccadillies in Lon
don.
The old folklore customs of throwing
an old shoe after new married couple as
a preventive of future unhappiness and an
| omen of good luck and prosperity, goes
back to the earliest days of the Anglo
/ SaXOnS.
The old Kentish custom is for one of the
groomsmen to throw the shoe. after which
/ the bridesmaids run. she who gets 1t be
lieving that she will be married first. She,
/ i'm turn. throws il among the men. the
man who receives the blow being destined
/ for marriage before the other men
/ There is 3 rhyme in ancient Brittany
still extant on this custom of throwing
/ shoes at weddings:
| When Britons bold
| Welded of old
Sandals were backward thrown
] The pair to tell.
| With III or well
| The act was OF their own.