Barefoot

“ She continued to go barefoot, or in winter only she wore low-cut peasant’s boots; yet she took every half-year the customary addition to her wages, of two pairs of welted shoes. They stood upon a shelf in her chamber, while Amrie bore herself as proudly as though she wore them all at the same time. Her shoes numbered six pairs, since Dami left her. They were filled with straw, and from time to time oiled to keep them soft.
Barefoot was now completely grown up; not very tall, but well-proportioned, strong, and active. ”

“ Were all the children in England to go barefoot, even if only for the next three months, our soldiers would many of them have much better shoes than they have. And most children would be delighted to go barefoot; and very many mothers would be delighted to save the money they now spend on shoes, if only the School Authorities, by appealing to them to do so for their country’s sake, would give them the chance of doing so without offence to their fetish, respectability. Unfortunately, many of these Authorities seem to prefer the worst of leaking, toe-crippling shoes to bare feet. ”

“ Mariann consoled her. “It is brave,” she said, “to scold thus. Why, when one looks upon a disgusting object, they must spit, else they will be ill; and when you hear, or see, or experience any thing bad, the soul must spit it out, or it will become wicked itself.” Barefoot could not but laugh at the wonderful consolation of Brown Mariann.
Day after day passed in the old manner, and soon the wedding was forgotten, the dance, and all that happened there, by every one except Barefoot, who felt perpetual anticipation, which she could not conquer. ”

“ I had wished, if possible, to keep out of Binnahan's head for a year, at least, all thoughts of either shoes or boots, as they were expensive and unnecessary articles of dress. Even on Sundays many well-dressed children came to school barefoot, the smartness of whose appearance was in no way diminished by their shapely bare legs and feet, whilst those who wore boots, on that day and no other, limped like young colts that have been shod by a clumsy blacksmith. ”

“ He made them mad by saying he guessed they were born barefoot for that matter, and as for breeding, they must have been bred from Eve and she certainly is always pictured as barefooted. Anyhow, it hurts my feet terribly to walk on rough places without my shoes and stockings. ”

“ At the Town-hall pump, there the true gossiping goes on; but not a single girl will own to having a new dress, lest she should lose the pleasure of seeing the surprise and admiration of her companions, when the day arrived. In the excitement of asking and answering questions, the duty of water-carrying is forgotten, and Barefoot, who arrives last, is the first to leave with her bucketful of water. ”

“ It is safer by far to go barefoot, as everyone who has ever tried it knows, than to wear shoes unless they be good; and in normal times, for every child who wears good shoes, shoes into which water cannot make its way, there are legions who wear shoes that leak, that have gaps through which toes poke out, soles that serve no purpose. ”

“ The coal-burner pointed with his thumb to the side where the foot-path led round the mountain.
“Oh, speak one word,” said Barefoot, now weeping violently, “only one word. Is my Dami here, or where is he?”
At last the old man said, “He is there! He [171] has gone up the foot-path to meet you,” and then, as though he had said too much, he pressed his lips together and went to his kiln.
There stood Amrie, and laughed in derision and sadness at the simplicity of her poor brother. ”

“ The barefoot boy of spring will also proceed to bathe in the river as soon as the ice and the policeman are out. He will choose a point on the boulevard, where he can get a good view of those who pass, and in company with eleven other little barefoot boys, he will clothe himself in an Adam vest, a pair of bare-skin pantaloons, a Greek slave overcoat and a yard of sunlight, and gaze earnestly at those who go by on the other side. ”

“ I now wear shoes.”
“That is right that you take advice so readily,” said John much pleased, and the dog appeared to remark his satisfaction, for he jumped upon Amrie and licked her hand.
“Come away, Lux,” said John.
“No! let him stay,” said Barefoot, “we are already good friends. He has been with me in the kitchen; all dogs love me and my brother.” ”

“ Indeed, both the highly arched instep and the everted foot are peculiar to civilized peoples, and are absent from the lower races, especially those who go barefoot, and both conditions owe their existence to the wasting of the muscles which flex the toes and foot by the constant use of tight-fitting shoes. In India, where the native workman makes use of his toes with almost the same facility as his fingers, the instep is obliterated by the fleshy bellies of the abductor of the great toe and the short flexor of the toes, which stretch across the arch from their attachment to the heel-bone. ”

“ The sole of these forms of footwear has the same freedom in gripping the ground and adapting itself to the requirements of every step as the bare foot, and it is a curious and yet significant fact that whereas more or less foot trouble is the rule rather than the exception among civilized peoples, yet those races who wear moccasins or sandals, or go barefooted, never have flatfoot, broken arches, bunions or other defects of this type. ”

“ If they wish to go shoeless, let them wear bathing sandals without stockings, is the advice of the writer, who adds, the germ of tetanus, better known as lockjaw, is frequently found in the soil and a child with even a small scratch or cut takes big risks. For girls, especially, running barefoot should be a forbidden pleasure as it makes the feet broad and flat. ”

“ A very great proportion of the people are barefoot; shoes are not yet considered as necessaries of life. It is still the custom to send out the sons of gentlemen without them into the streets and ways. ”

“ After supper, Rose could not refrain from asking Barefoot if she would not go with her as a servant when she was married; she would double her wages, and then she need not go across the Rhine to work in a factory.
[198] Barefoot gave an evasive answer, for she was little inclined to go with Rose. She knew, beside, that she had some other motive in asking the question. In the first place, she wanted to show her triumph, that she had a suitor in view, and then she wanted Barefoot to take charge of her housekeeping, with which she troubled herself very little. ”

“ The barefoot tracks of two human beings were frequently seen, but the persons who made them kept themselves carefully from sight. It was inferred from the size of the tracks that one was made by a boy and the other by a girl or woman of delicate feet. ”

“ Twenty per cent of the adults have abnormal feet. The most common and most striking abnormality is that known as “fa′-wĭng”; it is an inturning of the great toe. Fa′-wĭng occurs in all stages from the slightest spreading to that approximating forty-five degrees. It is found widely scattered among the barefoot mountain tribes of northern Luzon. ”

“ To be convinced that this is a deformity, and of the extent to which it is so, let any one notice the shape and natural position of a child’s foot, before it has been altered by forcing into a falsely-shaped shoe. The toes will be found lying straight forward in the line of the foot’s length, with plenty of room for them to touch the ground without pressing against each other. This is plainly the case with every barefoot boy who is running about the streets or over the farm. There are no cramped toes ”

“ Barefoot gained much praise whenever she showed these greetings. She always pointed to the place, with “See, there it stands in black and white.”
Amrie was for a long time quiet and reserved; she appeared to repent that she had let her brother go, or that she had not gone with him. Formerly, whether in the house or the barn, in the kitchen or the chamber, she was always singing, and when she went out with the scythe on her shoulder, she was still singing. Now they heard no sound from her lips. Some burthen held back her melody. [125] Yet there was a time when her songs were heard again ”

“ How much deterioration of the tissues of the foot may be brought about by improper footwear and, above all, by sedentary life and the substitution of the trolley car for the exercise of walking, is well illustrated by the functions that are lost. The child can use its adductor and abductor muscles for the toes quite as well as for the fingers. Those who go barefooted retain those muscular powers. Some time we will be able to influence young folks' minds enough to keep them from sacrificing all the more delicate muscular powers of their feet to the fashion of small or curiously shaped shoes. ”

“ In a warm climate nothing is so suitable for the feet of a soldier." It is well known that so painful will close shoes often become to the foot soldier, that he will take them off and throw them away in despair when making a forced march, preferring to walk barefooted rather than endure the suffering caused by swollen feet and tight shoes, which cannot occur when the sandal is used. The feet have always perfect freedom in them, and the sole and toes are protected. ”

“ Crawford remarks again that the barefooted native never ceases to wonder at the white man’s boots. To him they are a marvel and a portent, for, instead of thinking of the boot as merely covering the foot that wears it, his idea is that those few inches of shoe carpet the whole forest with leather. He puts on his boots, and, by doing so, he spreads a gigantic runner of linoleum across the whole continent of Africa. Here is a philosophical way of looking at a pair of boots! ”

“ It seems to have been common, in earlier times, to go barefooted all the year. Frederick Law Olmsted, a noted writer of the Civil War period, was told by a squire of the Tennessee hills that “a majority of the folks went barefoot all winter, though they had snow much of the time four or five inches deep ”

“ Under the conditions supposed, of a naked foot on a natural surface, the arches of the foot will commonly maintain their integrity, and give the noble savage or the barefooted Scotch lassie the elasticity of gait which we admire in the children of Nature. ”

“ I have already said that all the women, almost without an exception, are barefooted. But, alas! they are not like the pretty mulattoes in Bourbon who are never shod through coquetry, because they wish to preserve the pretty shape of their feet and the gracefulness of their walk, which they consider incompatible with boots. ”

“ You can go bareheaded or barefooted, without a coat or neckerchief, get as ragged and untidy as you please, without subjecting yourself to remark, or offending the nice sense of propriety pertaining to conventional life. ”

“ Occasionally on the sidewalk, amid the dapper, swiftly-moving, high-heeled boots and gaiters, I catch a glimpse of the naked human foot. Nimbly it scuffs along, the toes spread, the sides flatten, the heel protrudes; it grasps the curbing, or bends to the form of the uneven surfaces,—a thing sensuous and alive, that seems to take cognisance of whatever it touches or passes. How primitive and uncivil it looks in such company,—a real barbarian in the parlour. We are so unused to the human anatomy, to simple, unadorned nature, that it looks a little repulsive ”

“ Many a poor man is thus actually hobbled, to a greater or less extent, by the miserable foot-gear his poverty compels him to wear. As there is but very little bend to them, there is but little use of the muscles of the foot. It is cramped or unnaturally pressed upon, even though having plenty of room, and might almost as well be cased in iron as in the stiff kip or cowhide boot or brogan. The result is weakness, flattening, and a tendency to other kinds of distortion. We believe the frequency of flat-foot among some of the poorer classes of people may thus be easily accounted for. ”

“ It is useless to lay down anything definite, as people use their feet so differently; some are hard on boots, while others can wear them for years apparently. Of course, boot-trees have a good deal to say to the longevity of foot-gear, and, now that such light ones are to be had, three or four pairs would not be too many. I have heard it said that walking-shoes are dangerous on account of snakes, but they are far cooler than boots, and one really does not have to pick one’s way among snakes as a rule, and I have always found them a pleasant variety. ”

“ You need to exercise more care in the selection of shoes than of any other article of your outfit. Tight boots put an end to all pleasure, if worn on the march; heavy boots or shoes, with enormously thick soles, will weary you; thin boots will not protect the feet sufficiently, and are liable to burst or wear out; Congress boots are apt to bind the cords of the leg, and thus make one lame; short-toed boots or shoes hurt the toes; loose ones do the same by allowing the foot to slide into the toe of the boot or shoe; low-cut shoes continually fill with dust, sand, or mud. ”

“ And for these two reasons: first, that, since a squat, broad, dumpy foot is much uglier than a long thin one, therefore you may always diminish the appearance of breadth, by adding to the reality of length; and next, that when the shoe is long, the toes have plenty of room, and commonly 'tis here that "the shoe pinches." No one has corns on his heels or the sides of his feet, let his shoes or boots be as narrow as he can well bear them: it is upon those poor, pent up, imprisoned, distorted joints of the toes, that the rubs of the world come, and that the corning process goes on. ”