My dear child, these painful deformities are caused, as a rule, by ill-fitting shoes. A shoe too short for the foot or a very high heel will cause an ingrowing toe-nail, a source of endless trouble and suffering. Wear low heels, and have your shoes a little longer than your feet, and you will not be troubled by bunions, which are swellings of the joints. Change your stockings very often, and bathe the feet twice a day to prevent corns. A pretty foot is a foot in the right proportion to the rest of the figure. It is not always a small foot. Indeed, a tall, large girl should not care for a foot fit only for a wee midget who needs a tiny boot and an elfin slipper. Never be ashamed of the size of your foot, but keep your shoes and boots in the nicest possible order.
Be very careful about buttons. A shoe with one or two yawning spaces where all should be neatness and trimness gives a disagreeable impression of its wearer. Whenever you can manage it, have several pairs of shoes at a time. They last much longer if relieved by one another; and when not in use keep your shoes in a box or bag away from dust, and with tissue-paper stuffed inside their toes to preserve their shape. Wear the nicest stockings you can procure. It is true economy to purchase the best foot-gear one can afford.
Margaret R. B.—I prize your beautiful little letter, and am very glad that you like Eugene Field's verses. Do you like Stevenson's Child Garden of Verse? I hope so.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
