Dress and care of the feet /

by John Lord Peck

There is a peculiarity about the Plumer last recommending it in this particular. The heel, on the bottom, is quite convex, which allows the heel of the foot to settle down into that of the boot more than usual, and thus what appears to be a high heel, outside, feels, on the foot, to be no higher than one made upon ordinary lasts an eighth of an inch lower. There is hence so much less pressure upon the ends of the toes.

A false habit, tending in the same direction, is that of changing the shoes of children to make them wear evenly or prevent their treading over to one side at the heel. It is a practice productive of far more harm than good—a saving of shoe-leather at the foot’s expense. After one foot has shaped a shoe to itself, to put the other into it forcing the great toe into the curve made by the little toe and outside of the foot, must do much toward bending the toe permanently out of place. It should never be allowed or proposed. Give children right and left shoes, and guard against their wearing on one side by good firm counters. It is their right, when obtainable, and anything less is injustice.

While the foot is growing, it easily adapts itself to its surroundings; and by wearing short boots and shoes it may be encouraged to grow into a bad shape in a few years. Most old people have joints deformed in this way. We have also seen them on the feet of young and beautiful women, where they seemed most sadly out of place. Young feet are often forced to grow into uncomely shape through the good intentions of parents, whose falsely-taught instinct of beauty induces them to put as small a shoe on the child’s foot as it will bear, fearing that if left to itself it will grow too long, or too wide, to be elegant in form. The motive of this action is most commendable, but its wisdom extremely doubtful and weak. Beauty, taste, elegance, are to be sought for everywhere and always. We have not the least sympathy with any attempt to depreciate them. But they are not to be sought by counteracting nature. On the contrary, nature is most trustworthy. If not interfered with, she will make the foot grow in due proportion to the size of the whole body; and every part will be developed in the right proportion to itself.

“Children of a larger growth” continue to carry out the same false idea by wearing as short and narrow a boot as they can squeeze their foot into with any degree of comfort. While the object is to obtain a handsome foot, all such cramping inevitably defeats its purpose. The effect which it invariably has and must have, is to make the joints project, and add from one-fourth to three-fourths of an inch to the foot’s width, leaving out of account the torture accompanying the process. Nobody will claim that large joints and extra width at this point make a good-looking foot, but they are the sure results, in greater or less degree according to the severity of the pinching, and the length of the time it is continued.

It is well to ascertain if stockings do not have some effect in giving a bad shape to this part of the foot, although made of such yielding materials that they may at first thought, appear harmless. Mr. James Dowie, in a work published in England some years since, speaking of the toes being cramped, crowded, bent, and piled over each other, attributes part of this result to the stocking, and recommends the wearing of one having toes on it—similar to the fingers on a glove. There is no reason to doubt that this conclusion is correct, for while a stocking that is loose may be drawn into almost any shape to suit the toes, one which is tight, short, and narrow-toed, must, and does, draw the toes together and keep them so, however favourable may be the form of the boot outside. It is a fact, too, that stockings are narrow and pointed at the toe; almost universally. The suggestion of putting toes to them is a good one. But if this is thought to be taking too much pains with such an article—though it is evidently impossible to take too much pains in dressing any part of the body so as to protect it from being injured in any manner—it is perfectly easy to make the stocking wider at this part, leaving it nearly square, or with only a slight roundness at the end. This would be a very decided improvement, and cannot be urged too strongly.[2]

Like the defects of the shoe, those of the stocking must be felt more seriously by children. They are ignorant of the matter, and would be careless and inattentive even if they were not. But if parents will half do their duty by them, there is no reason why they should not grow up with well-formed feet, thankful for the care which has saved them from distortion and blessed them with pedal comeliness.

There is here, also, a question of the comparative taste and elegance of wide and narrow soles, which needs a little discussion. It is the practice with many persons to wear as narrow a boot or shoe as they can, thinking we suppose, that if they have not a narrow foot, they ought to have, and that by putting it into a narrow boot they prevent it from spreading. As such a boot is and will be narrow at the toe, the effect is just the opposite of that intended as in the case of short ones. The toes are drawn together, and the ball pushed out wider than before. Then besides this tendency to make it wider, the foot looks wider in a shoe that is too narrow for it, because it treads the upper over, and the narrow toe makes it appear all the wider by contrast. A foot that is narrow may wear a narrow-soled shoe with propriety; for a wide one to attempt to do so is foolish. We have seen a lady’s boot trodden over so far that a hole had been worn through the upper on each side of the sole by its contact with the ground. The wearer doubtless thought it was necessary for her to wear a narrow sole to prevent her foot from spreading, and keep it in an elegant shape. She did not know that she was taking the most direct way to defeat her object, and that her true policy would have been to wear the widest-soled shoe she could get. This case was extreme, but it is quite common to see the upper worn through on one side from the same cause. The right kind of shoe for a wide foot is one so wide on the sole that the upper will project over it on the sides but slightly, and with as great a width of the toe, in proportion to the ball, as there would be in a narrow one. Such a shoe will make the foot appear narrower, by contrast, than it really is, and the greater the width of the toe, the more this effect is produced. Besides, the shoe or boot keeps its proper shape much better and longer when not too narrow or too short. If the foot be short proportionately, as well as wide, the covering should be of good length—at least a full size to spare at the toe, after being worn a few days and fitted, or broken in. These doctrines may not be readily accepted, but let any one who doubts give them a trial, and we are willing to be judged by the opinion formed afterward.

There are those who appear to urge the idea that broad soles are eminently proper always, and for everybody, which doctrine we do not endorse; but we mean to say that persons who have wide feet naturally, or who have made them wide at the joints in the ways here pointed out, ought to wear wide soles. It is also quite certain that if people wore soles of the correct shape from childhood there would be a far less number than now of those feet, that require this extra width of sole, for nine-tenths of them are forced into a width which they would not have by nature, and, when once deformed, no pains taken in fitting them can make them look well, or like those which keep their proper shape.

A narrow foot must not be confounded with a slim one. Feet that are slim—that measure less than an average in circumference—are often found wider than most of those of the same length which are of medium size or fulness. These are feet that spread, and may generally be found on individuals of spare or muscular temperament. Such persons ought to wear boots made on wide lasts, with wide toes, though at the same time sufficiently slim to fit. As such lasts cannot easily be found ready-made, those having feet of this shape ought to possess a pair made expressly for themselves.

There is an opposite style of feet, those which are long and narrow, while they may be also full, or thick, vertically. These are usually found on persons who are tall, yet round, and fleshy in physique. They can wear boots made on lasts that are comparatively narrow, such as may be found at any shoe-shop. It is not intended to argue in favour of any unnecessary width in either case, but simply to urge the necessity, not only for comfort, but especially for elegance also, of having sufficient width to accommodate the foot easily, and preserve the natural shape of both the foot and its covering.