Show f I I L I I 1 < kY c fs r 4 f APt 4 it 1d N r s 17 I i TIEODDC TrsNOfsNI1lE > O PIOBfNGfI t i f c u INTBIOCrf1s1111RrYNOBtSIFPi fGBfl1 ff TlETpYTn40 c5ECOND Ions NDR r i r4 Y t14 f r Vr T4 J I f tF f I of I 3 L I j i H 4a eYt JeV y pS r I S Y n k to f DeWOJ tw rx c7f0 BYlNDfiPIDOD G10 RhvOD Yg 0 p OT many cobblers of the wc present day know that they n have a untron saint but 43 M I thf > have Saint Crispin vu hlr mime and he held forth way back in the third century preaching Christianity in the daytime day-time and making shoes at night Some said he stole the leather while others declared that he got It from heaven The former assertion was probably Instigated by the less saintly cobblers for St Crispin sold his shoes very cheap The shoe trade had quite a high station In the old days George Fox the first of the Quakers was a shoemaker Huns Sachs the most eminent poet of Germany was a cobbler So was William Gifford Gif-ford the famous editor of the Quarterly Shoes as wo know them are purely a western institution But there is a reason and Incidentally a queer Juxtaposition A Christian takes his hat off when he enters a church or a house an Asiatic shows his reverence by taking his shoes off Obviously Ob-viously it would bo quite a nuisance to stoop down and unlace your shoes every time you called on u friend or went to church So the Asiatics wear shoes that t can be kicked off as easily as we can remove our hats Some are made with straw soles und sell for about ten cents a pair others are made of wood j while still others are made of leather of various kinds When shoes arc reduced to such simple proportions It is but natural to expect some rather crude effects Peasants often cut strips of wood fasten a thong about the big too and the hoard I and trudge along as comfortably as the man who buys the readymade shoes of America and In some cases even more so Another scheme is to use a block of wood and stick a knob In It so It will rise between the big toe and its neighbor and by a dexterous and practiced use of the too muscles it answers very well indeed In Urlttnny the making of shoos Is a village occupation oc-cupation The whole family chips In on tho work from the six year old child to the great grandfather grand-father and between them they make tho most of tho wooden shoes that are on tho market An American boy would probably fail down and skin his knees If he were to try to play in wooden shoes but the little Dutch and Belgian boys romp about the streets to their hearts content in them and never even drop them off We have been wearing practically the same kind of shoes for BO many years that we are llablo to forget that they varied in styles as radically as womens hats do now During the time of Kdwnrd IV in England I tho parliament hud to puss a law reh1llat I Alto length of shoos Some of thorn weir long as to ho dangerous Princes sonm 10 them even two feet In length with ids stuffed out with straw One worthy Scotch king doubled his back and attached tho points to his belt Hut of course that style was In vogue before the days of trolley cars Then in the next generation 1 when the law lIre vontod long pointed shoes they began to broaden and this continued until they had to pass another law to stop time broadening It was at about this time and later that chopplnoH came in Those wore high supports under tho solos lifting tho inches nearer tho clouds wearers some six or eight cro y ° r dII PA Y e rSllllOF Ir fIt It It was from this queer style that the high heel developed only in those days tho heel was several sever-al Inches higher than those now worn Of course the smallest shoes of all are worn by Chinese women Some of these are only two Inches long The present empress Is trying to break up the cruel custom of nilsshnpenlng the feet Probably in another generation these diminutive di-minutive shoes will bo a curiosity but up to a few years ago a Chinese girl whose feet were four Inches long found it a difficult proposition to get married while the parents of the girl with the twoInch foot was overrun with applicants Asa As-a compensation to these Chinese women for the tortures they underwent during the time their feet were being maltreated they took great pride in embroidering beautiful designs upon their shoes Very few shoos for women ore on sale in China as nearly all women make their own In the northern countries coarse leather boots are the customary footwear partly on account of the cold but principally because a low shoe Is of too shallow draft to navigate tho poor roads A largo percentage of these boots are of home manufacture man-ufacture roughly stitched and crude In appearance appear-ance Just why shoes for poor persons came Into vogue Is a question that remains unanswered They originated i In the Grecian sandal and have developed with the Increasing tenderness of feet to thc heavy leather affair we all know Yet an Irish lassie who goes about barefooted all her days has a natural sole upon her foot from a quarter to a half Inch thick And sho does not have corns either But Americans need not complain of tho institution in-stitution We made 242110035 pairs of shoes In 1905 or a pair for every Inhabitant of America France Germany Austria and a few of the smaller small-er countries The value of the Industry was JU20 170158 All that was for one years output or more money than there was In the world when tho first sandal was made The American shoe Is now walking the streets ot every capital of the world It is in the shops in every center of trade and even on tho thresholds of far eastern temples the American shoe lies beside the crude wooden sandals and late comers stop a moment to examine it and try it on If no one Is looking One of tho greatest problems which modern civilization has had to face Is the clothing of l its feet In the days centuries upon centuries ago whon man was only a wild beast of the jungle ho wore no shoes and therefore was not bothered with coins But today when every part of the body Is covered except the hands and head mans wearing of shoes has become a necessity Thus some of tho functions of modern clvlllxa tloiiH1 pcdes are disappearing Toenails no longer being an actual need among tribes which wear shoes are disappearing mid a scientist a few years ago declared that within 100 years there will be no toenalls Even the American Indian who a hundred years ago woio moccasins today clothes his feet In r I brogans and ho would laugh at his brother redskin red-skin who took to wearing animals skins on his feet Thero are few tribes In the world today except ex-cept In tho darkest portions of Africa who still spurn the wearing of shoes in some form or other Of course every nation has Its own special kind of shoes some of which consist of nothing mora than a Hat piece of board and a strap That sort are classed under the general caption ol sandals Hundreds of years ago when people wore nc shoes they never complained of rheumatism they I never had Ingrowing toenails neither did they cultivate corns and seldom could they boast of an attack of gout They called It evil spirit then But the advance of civilization had its drawbacks rime feet were clothed but at the same time tho wearing of the shoes brought on disease of these supports and some authorities doubt whether civilizations feet are any bettor off today than they were a thousand years ago when they were filled with slivers brambles and the like but were not nearly ns wide a topic for discussion as they are today for then people didnt mind time little Inconveniences Today great progress havIng hav-Ing been made In that line smaller ailments of the feet are a source of complaint The most civilized portions of the world havo developed a tenderness of the feet which has become be-come a tradition in tho circles which have made the greatest progress People who wear pointed shoes are compelled to suffer the same agonies that would come If their toes were bound together with adhesive tape and they were compelled to walk about thus conditioned Others who wear shoes too small have swelling of tho feet when they take off their shoes Shoes too large produce corns just as do small shoes Young ladies and some older ones who follow i the fashions with good Intent equip themselves I with Frenchheeled shoes which raise tho heels into the nit from three to six Inches This of course gives them a beautiful Instep they claim and It also keeps them walking on their toes Itt It-t the spine and exerts pressure upon the halo of the bran which brings on fearful headaches head-aches if till practice Is kept up for any length of time each day Skeptical persons with set Ideas on shoes are talking of asking the next session of congress to put a tariff on French heels which will effectively bar them from this country But there uro so many wives of congressmen and senators sen-ators who declare thfct French heels are far more comfortable than halfInch heels that the bill has about ts much show as tho traditional snowball |