It is surprising how much of the sole of the shoes you can see when behind a person walking—and it is equally surprising how much meaning you can read from that shoe. It is said that to wear out soles and heels equally is to give evidence of business capacity and honesty; to wear your heels down on the outside means that you are a person of imagination and love of adventure; but heels worn down on the inside signify weakness and indecision of character, and this last sign is more infallible in the case of man than in that of woman.
Remember how “Sherlock Holmes” met a stranger and noticed that he was looking fairly well-to-do, in new clothes with a mourning band on his sleeve, with a soldierly bearing and a sailor’s way of walking, sunburns, with tattoo marks on his hands, and he was carrying some children’s toys in his hand. What would you have supposed that man to be? Well, Sherlock Holmes guessed correctly that he had lately retired from the Marines as a sergeant, that his wife had died, and that he had some small children at home.
Details in the Country.—If you are in the country, you should notice landmarks—that is, objects which help you to find your way or prevent you getting lost—such as distant hills and church towers; and nearer objects, such as peculiar buildings, trees, gates, rocks, etc.
And remember in noticing such landmarks that you may want to use your knowledge of them some day for telling some one else how to find his way, so you must notice them pretty closely so as to be able to describe them unmistakably and in their proper order. You must notice and remember every by-road and footpath.
Remembrance of these things will help you to find your way by night or in fog when other people are losing themselves.
Using your Eyes.—Let nothing be too small for your notice—a button, a match, a hair, a cigar ash, a feather, or a leaf might be of great importance, even a fingerprint which is almost invisible to the naked eye has often been the means of detecting a crime.
Not long ago a lady reported to the police that she was sitting in her room reading quietly in the corner when a ragged-looking man crept in at the open window, seized hold of a silver vase, and was in the act of making off with it when a sound outside disturbed him.
He put down the vase again, ran away across the lawn, jumped a low hedge, and got away.
Detectives came and examined the ground, but could find no footmarks even at the spot where the man had landed from his jump. Then they inspected the vase very carefully, and examined the fingers of the different people in the house.
They then reported that nobody except the maid had handled the vase and that nobody had gone across the lawn or jumped the hedge.