Barefooting

“ 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. ”

“ As it is, however, boots and shoes are a necessary evil, and we must, therefore, try to make them as little of an evil as possible. Perhaps the most practicable way of allowing for the ventilation of out-door boots is to have merely a golosh of leather affixed to the sole, and the upper part of the boot entirely of cloth. Shoes, leaving the upper part of the foot exposed, of course afford better facilities for transpiration than boots made entirely of leather, and they may be worn in winter with cloth gaiters. For summer wear the uppers of the boots may be made of cashmere. ”

“ 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 ”

“ J.C. Plumer, formerly of Portland, now of Boston, has devoted himself to the study of the foot, and to the construction of a last upon which a boot or shoe can be moulded which shall be adapted to its form and accommodated to its action.
Most persons know something of the cruel injustice to which the feet are subjected, and the extraordinary distortions and diseases to which they are liable in consequence. The foot's fingers are the slaves in the republic of the body. ”

“ But though the stay, when properly used, may be upheld, there is nothing that can be said in excuse of the wicked fashion—wicked, because the cause of much deformity and disease—of the high heel and pointed toe. We all know the mischief done by the very high heel, and from an artistic point of view it is to be condemned, making, as it does, the prettiest foot look like a hoof and destroying all freedom and dignity of gait. ”

“ Yet half a sole and a sound upper are better than no boot; and what climber but would postpone till after his descent the discarding of his damaged footgear?
Could it be, I asked myself, the relic and evidence of an inhuman crime? Was it possible that some party of climbers, arriving at the top lunchless and desperately hungry, had sacrificed their plumpest, disposing of his clothes over the cliff, but failing to hole out with this tell-tale boot?
But no, I bethought me of the price of leather. They would have reserved the boots, even at the risk of suspicion. ”

“ At this time high heels are most dangerous, as they are not only likely to cause the wearer to fall forward, but they prepare for her a difficult labour by causing the lumbar vertebrae to push forward.
The high heel assists the pointed toe in deforming the foot by forcing the foot forward to the end of the boot.
A simple experiment will show any individual what the shape of his boots ought to be; for feet are as distinctive features of the human frame as hands or faces, and they ought to be studied accordingly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And in Antonio the South claimed her own again.
Even the discomfort of my shoes could not seriously dampen my enjoyment. Those trodden-over heels had become nearly unbearable; but when I caught one between two rocks and tore it off, the resulting limp was worse. It was not till the next morning that Frater evolved the brilliant thought of prying off the other heel to match, which was a great relief.
Feet and shoes are always a problem on a long pedestrian trip. A shoe too tight is misery, but one too large, which allows the foot to rub and chafe, is almost as bad. ”

“ With such ill-made boots (see Plate 8, Fig. B) owing to the bones of the feet being prevented from exercising their proper movements in walking, the muscles below the knees, which are connected with those bones, waste for want of use. The foot, cramped into a motionless mass by the boot, thus becomes in its function, or rather want of function, very like the deformed "lily" of the Chinese, and the shrunken, calfless leg is in a similar way used simply as a stump. ”

“ Unnatural width in the toes of boots is, however, a less evil than the unnatural narrowness of the toe which has been the prevailing fashion for generations, and is still unfortunately so common that it is almost an impossibility to obtain a boot or shoe ready-made which is less than two inches narrower across the toe than the foot that has to be crammed into it.
The result of the high-heeled and pointed shoes, which curl the toes up into a painful mass and render the centre of gravity unstable, is to impede locomotion and make exercise repugnant. ”

“ More than half the troubles of life are produced by the sufferers for themselves, and the troubles caused by improper boots are some of these.
The neglect which has been the fate of our "poor feet" is one of the most extraordinary facts in civilization. The evils of improper foot-coverings have been pointed out again and again, but for centuries past little advance has been made in this respect. The ancients were by no means free from troubles produced by ill-made shoes and sandals ”

“ Other forms of tight pressure upon the body are open to serious if not to equal objection. The wearing of shoes which compress and distort the feet is a singularly injurious custom. Suppose I said that nine tenths of the feet of the members of an English community were rendered misshapen by the boots and shoes worn, the statement would seem extreme, but it would be within the truth. The pointed shoe or boot is the most signal instance of a mischievous instrument designed for the torture of feet. ”

“ The thought of the multitudes so much worse off than himself in this matter of foot-wear, gives him no sort of satisfaction. Their boots pinch him vicariously. The black rage with the scheme of things that once he felt through suffering in his own person in the days when he limped shabbily through gaily busy, fashionable London streets, in split boots that chafed, he feels now just as badly as he goes about the world very comfortably himself, but among people whom he knows with a pitiless clearness to be almost intolerably uncomfortable. ”

“ 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 [Pg 26] 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For common tramping they are ideal, for the constant exposure of the feet to the wet is to be anticipated and the thickness of the wool softens the shock and pressure of foot work on rough trails, diminishing the danger of friction and impact. In fitting shoes or moccasins over your heavy wool socks allow a half size larger in length and two letters in width over your street shoe. Even then your foot covering will be about three times the bulk of your tight fashion-plate town footwear. ”

“ One of the well-established facts of physiology is that anything worn upon the feet which, like rubber or patent leather, prevents the passing off of the insensible perspiration, [Pg 146] is detrimental to the health. Those who regard the organic laws as having any sacredness, will not use patent leather boots covering the whole foot, for constant wear, but limit them to particular occasions. Rubbers ought to be removed, and something else substituted in their place, as soon as the feet come out of the wet which occasions their being put on. ”

“ Most people have to buy ready-made boots; they cannot afford others, and, in the submissive philosophy of poverty, they wear them to “get used” to them. This gives you the little-toe pinch, the big-toe pinch, the squeeze and swelling across the foot; and, as a sort of chronic development of these pressures, come corns and all the misery of corns. Children’s feet get distorted for good by this method of fitting 10the human being to the thing; and a vast number of people in the world are, as a consequence of this, ashamed to appear barefooted. ”

“ When on a journey, they require nailed shoes. Further, they ought for the most part to wear shoes; for it is not suitable for the foot to be shown naked: besides, woman is a tender thing, easily hurt. But for a man bare feet are quite in keeping, except when he is on military service. “For being shod is near neighbour to being bound.” [250]
To go with bare feet is most suitable for exercise, and best adapted for health and ease, unless where necessity prevents. But if we are not on a journey, and cannot endure bare feet, we may use slippers or white shoes ”

“ They were romping and rambling about all the while, and their morning walk must have been as much as fifteen miles; but they thought nothing of it, and when we parted were apparently as fresh as when they started, and very loath to return."
I fear, also, the American is becoming disqualified for the manly art of walking, by a falling off in the size of his foot. He cherishes and cultivates this part of his anatomy, and apparently thinks his taste and good breeding are to be inferred from its diminutive size. A small, trim foot, well booted or gaitered, is the national vanity. ”

“ Some day, when we are really civilized, high heels will be unknown. I am convinced that the Omnipotent Creator knew his business thoroughly when he created the human foot, that the sole of the human foot, heel included, was made for locomotion, and that it is impossible for human ingenuity to improve upon the foot. In other words, if you can secure footwear that will enable you to walk with the same freedom that you can enjoy when barefooted, you will then have attained perfection in foot covering. ”

“ Stockings, if in a minor degree than boots, are still to a great extent responsible for deformities of the toes.
The woollen shoe or sock for the baby is too often narrowed to a point at the toes, or at best rounded to the shape of a blunt wedge, so that the tiny sprawling, out-spreading toes are not only cramped in the movements that are necessary for their healthy development, but are wedged together with the great and little toes approached to one another, and thus the foundation is laid for deformity, afterwards to be perfected by the narrow-toed boot of later life. ”

“ We have seen that the common sole, by being [Pg 129] curved where it should be straight—on its inside line—inevitably draws the great toe to one side, and all the toes too closely together, pushing out the joint, creating corns between and outside the toes, and lameness or bunion at the joint itself; that this tendency is increased by straight and narrow-toed soles; that it is made still worse by high heels, which pitch the foot far forward; while the practice of wearing boots and shoes that are too short makes yet another addition toward the production of the whole bad result. ”