Sentence:  I suppose that those who ramble beyond railways may yet come upon females underpinned with the useful and once indispensable <WSD>pattens</WSD>, but for a long time it has not been my lot to look upon a pair. Goloshes, clogs, cork-soles, and other inventions, have quite superseded the noisy old resource ; and I am not sure that the modern appliances could make out a perfect claim to superiority over the old, for the <WSD>pattens</WSD> not only kept the feet dry, they also, by raising the wearer from one to two inches, kept the garments out of the mire. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  One of various wooden attachments used to lift a shoe above wet or muddy ground. (form 16th c.)