Dress and care of the feet /

by John Lord Peck

A strip of thick tin, half or three-fourths of an inch wide, and two and a half inches long, is all that is required for the material. If preferred, it may be of thin sheet iron or sheet brass. Any tinsmith will furnish it, bent and doubled into the form represented in the diagram.

Fig. 22.—Separator.

The upright part is five-eighths or three-fourths of an inch high, according to the thickness of the toes. A cut is made in the insole, and this part put through, while the ends are fastened to the under-side of the sole by some very small-headed tacks, such as every shoemaker has upon his bench, or can readily procure, and can drive after making holes through the tin with a sharp-pointed peg-awl, clinching their points on his lap-iron; or if the part goes through snugly, there is no real need of fastening at all. It is best not to set the partition very far back from the end of the toe, because at the first joint there is but a thin covering of flesh to guard the bone from being hurt. The exact place for it must be determined by carefully measuring the foot, while the toe is kept straight by the hand, and afterward measuring the same length on the insole, with the size-stick; the width of the toe, as well as the foot’s length, being also taken, and in the same way. To make sure that it shall not chafe the toe, the partition or separator may be covered neatly with cloth, or with a piece of thin sheepskin or kid leather. The following cut shows it when ready to be put into the shoe.

Fig. 23.—Insole with Separator.

The edges and corners of the separator need to be smoothly rounded, and the forward upright corner may be lowered by filing off, if desired, to prevent its showing against the upper. It should not be wider or thicker at its forward part, that is, it should not be triangularshaped,[3] so as to separate the toes more at the ends than farther back, for if so it would prevent the smaller ones from straightening out to correspond with the large one. The large toe often pushes the smaller ones to the outside—part of them, at least—and when the great toe is restored to straightness the smaller ones should be allowed to follow it, as they will be inclined to do, while the curve of the shoe on the outside tends also to push them back toward the inside. Almost anything between them will keep them apart temporarily, as for the purpose of giving ease to a sore joint, where there is no intention to continue the improvement.

When the shoe is made ready there may still be some difficulty about getting the foot into it. There must first be a toe made in the stocking; which can be done in a rough way by sewing two parallel seams, an eighth of an inch or so apart, from the end of the stocking to a depth equal to the length of the great toe, of sufficient width to give room for it, and then cutting down between these seams with the scissors. The stocking should itself be of good width, to give space for the smaller toes to be separated also. An ingenious woman would probably find a better way of making the toe, but this will answer if necessary. Then, if the joint is not too stiff, or the toe too much bent aside, it can be kept straight while going into the boot by the fingers of one hand pressing against it outside of the upper leather; and when this is the case the foot may be clothed in any kind of a boot or shoe, and no difficulty will be experienced in putting it on. A man’s calf boot may be drawn on in this way the first time it is worn.

But when the deformity is too decided to allow of the toe being kept straight by the hand in this manner, a shoe which laces in front must be made, the opening being cut down somewhat lower than usual—as low, in fact, as will answer—though the line of the vamp is still curved so much that the seam will not cross the joints—a direction which the maker will understand. On account of the vamp being so short, the shoe will look better if made rather long for the foot.

With this the foot can be turned a little, and worked around in such a way as commonly to get the toe to go in on the right side of the partition; but if there is still difficulty, a pretty sure way of accomplishing the object is to take a yard of tape, ribbon, or something similar, wind it up around the finger into a large, compact wad, and crowd it in between the toes till the great one is well straightened out, taking care to leave one end of the tape hanging outside the shoe. The toe will then be likely to go into the place made for it, and the tape can be pulled out by its free end before the shoe is fully drawn on.