Year: 1869

PE.rCHE.vG SHOES.


There are two ways of dealing with
pinching shoes. The one il to wear them
till we got accustomed to the pressure, and
so wear them easy; the other is to kick
them off and have done with them alto
gether. The one is founded on the accom-
modating principle of human nature, by
which it is enabled to fit itself to circum-
stances the other is the high handed mas
terfuncss whereby the earth is subdued
and obstacles are removed the one is en-
blcmatic of Christian patience the other of
pagan power. Both are good in certain
states, and neither is absolutely the best for
all conditions. There are some shoes, in
deed, which, do what we will, we can new
er wear easy. Wemay keep them well fix
ed on our feet all our life, Loyalty accepting
the pressure which fate and misfortune
have imposed on us; but we go lame and
hobblcd in consequence, and never know
what it is to make free step, or to walk
on our way without discomfort. Examples
abound; for, among all the pilgrims toll
ing more or less painfully through life to
death, there is not one whose shoes do not
pinch him somewhere, how easy soever
they may look, and how soft socver the ma
tcria Of which they may be made. Even
those proverbial possessorS of roomy shoes,
the traditional king and princess, have
their own little private bedroom slippers


which pinch them, undetected by the gap
inc tnnltitu1p who m bappinaSG hx-
lengths of velvet and weight of golden en-
broidery; and the proverbial owners ofthe
treasure which all seek and none find,
might better stand as instances of sorrow
than of appiness-exampe of how badly
shod poor royalty is, and how, far more
than meaner folk, it suffers from the pinch
ing of its prncely shoes.


The uncongeniality of profession into
which man may have been forced by the
| iniudicious overruling of his lends, or by
the eNigencies of family pos ion and in
herited rights, is one form OF ne pinching
| shoe by no means rare to fini And here
again, poor royalty comes in Tor share OF
the grip on tender places, and the conse-
qucnt hobbing of its feet. For many an
hereditary king was meant by nature to be
nothing but a plain country gentleman al
the bost-perhaps even less; many, like
poor "Louis Capet," would have gone tc
the end quite happily and respectfully il
only they might have kicked off the shoe,
of sovereignty, and betaken themselves
to the highlows of the herd-if only they
might have exchanged the sceptre for the
turning-lathe, the pen, or the fowling- piece
"Je deteSte mon meter de roi," Victor
Emanuel is reported to have said to a re-
publican friend who sympathized with the
monarch $ well-known tastes in other things
beside his hatred of the kingly profession
and history repeats this frank avowal il
every page. But the purple is almost a'
hard to be got rid of comfortably as Deian
eiras robe; for the most part carrying the
skin along with it, and trailed through
pool of blood in the act of transfer-whicl
is scarcely what royalty, oppressed with it,
own greatness, and willing to rid itself o
sceptre and shoes that it may enjoy itsel
| in list slippers, after a nSpre bourgeois fash
ion, would find in accordance with its wish
es Lower down in the social scale W,
| find the same kind of misfit between ma
| turc and position rs very frequent occur
rence-pinching shoes, productive of in
Vulnerable corns and tender places. How
| often we see a natural "heavy," securely
swathed in cassock and bands, and set NJ
| in the pulpit of the family church, simpl,
| because the tithes We're large, and the liv
| ing lay in the family gift. But that stii
| rectorial shoe of his will never wear easy
The mans secret soul goes out to the pa
rade ground and the mess-table. The gilt
ter and Jingle and theatrical display of
soldiers life seem to him the finest thing
in the whole round of professions, and tn


quiet, uneventful life Of a village pastor i


of all the most abhorrent. He wants t,
| act, not to teach. Yet there he is, pennet
in beyond all power Of breaking loose ol
this side of the grave; bound to drOne on
| muddled sermons half an hour long, anC
eminently good for sleeping -draughts, in
stead of shooting torse and stirring word


of command that set the blood on fire I,
hear; bound 10 rout the shadowy enemy o
| souls with weapons he can neither feel no


use, instead of prancing off at the head o
his mon, waving his drawn sword abov


his head in whirlwind of excitement an,
martial glory, TO rout the tangible enc
mics of his country's flag. lie loves hi


wife, and takes mild parsonic pleasure il


his roses he energies his schools, am


beats up recruits for his parish penny read


ingsi he lends his pulpit TO missionary del
egates, and takes the chair at the meetin


for the conversion Of Jews; he does his du
ty, poor man, so far as he knows how, an


80 far as nature gave him power; but his fee
are in pinching shoes all his life long, an


no amount of walking on his clerical high


way can ever make them pleasant wearing


Or, he may have II passionate love for tn


sea, and he mewed up in lawyers must


office, where his large limbs have not ha


space enough for their natural activity


whore he is perched for twelve hours out q


the twenty-four on high stool against


desk, instead of climbing cat-like, up tn


ropes, and set to engross Il lOng-winde


deed of conveyance, or to make a fair cop.


Of a bill of costs, instead Of bearing han


in a gale, and saving his ship by pluck an


quickness. lie could save ship bette


than he can engross deed while, as 70


law, he cannot get IA much of that into hi


heavy brain as would enable bim to advis


a client on the simplest case of assault