Footman

“ A liveried coachman and footman, like sentinels on their box, drove past with a bored couple in an open landau. "Imagine living under guard, like that!" he laughed. A butler stood at attention beside a door which he had opened for an old lady whom a footman was escorting solemnly down the steps. ”

“ The under-footman rises at six, makes fires, cleans boots, trims and cleans the lamps, opens the shutters and the front-door, sweeps down the steps, and, indeed, does the rougher part of the work before the other servants begin their daily duties. Each should be without mustache, clean shaven, and clad in neat livery. His linen and white neck-tie should be, when he appears to wait on the family at table or in any capacity, immaculate. ”

“ Yes, the owners of footmen are mostly less prosperous in appearance than their servants, while the possessor of a butler and footmen galore looks quite poor. But I do wonder where footmen go when they are old? I never saw an old footman but once, and that was in a registry office, a dim sanctuary, dotted by desks and ornamented by agitated ladies. ”

“ For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood— (she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a fish) —and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles. It was opened by another footman in livery, with a round face, and large eyes like a frog; and both footmen, Alice noticed, had powdered hair that curled all over their heads. ”

“ He takes any person of quality's footman, ties a rope about his bare neck, and draws him up by pullies to the ceiling, and there keeps him hanging as long as his master or the company pleases, the said footman, to the wonder and delight of all beholders, having a pot of ale in one hand and a pipe in the other ”

“ These running footmen were dressed in a short livery jacket and white trousers, and wore a jockey cap.
In the old days, when communication between towns and villages was by no means easy, swift runners were often of the greatest service to their employers, especially in cases of illness when a doctor lived far away. The story of the Scotch running footman is a very old one ”

“ The coachman drew up his horses before the castle gateway, where their hoofs beat a sort of fanfare on the stone pavement; and the footman, letting himself smartly down, pulled, with a peremptory gesture that was just not quite a swagger, the bronze hand at the end of the dangling bell-cord. ”

“ Here a gurgling voice was heard to ejaculate, as part of the wanderings of a sick man, the words ‘Demnition sweetness!’ but nobody heeded them except the footman, who, being startled to hear such awful tones proceeding, as it were, from between his very fingers, dropped his master’s head upon the floor with a pretty loud crash, and then, without an effort to lift it up, gazed upon the bystanders, as if he had done something rather clever than otherwise. ”

“ To be on the same footing with another, is to be under the same circumstances in point of service; to have the same number of men, and the same pay, etc.
Footman. A soldier who marches and fights on foot.
Foot-pound. In mechanics, is the unit of work. It is simply a contraction for “one pound raised through a height of one foot.” See Work.
Foot-soldier. A soldier that serves on foot.
Foot-ton. In England the power of modern ordnance is estimated by the energy of the shot in foot-tons, divided by the number of inches in the shot’s circumference. ”

“ A code of minute regulations governed the apparel of the players,—robes, head-gear, sandals, stockings, and fans,—and another code indicated the proper postures of the body,—the movements of the hands, the paces of the feet, the expression of the face; the pose of the hips; the spread of the step; the recover; the side kick; the fore kick; the separate kick; the extra-tree kick; the numerical kick, and the indefinite kick—all were clearly prescribed. In short, foot-ball became a cult, and even the physical strength that it demanded was decorously and elegantly exercised. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Exercises on tip-toe, especially with a skipping rope, massage, rest and tonic treatment will give relief, and shoes or boots may be supplied with the heel and sole thickened along the inner borders so that the weight may be received along the strong outer border of the foot. When the flat-footed individual stands it should be upon the outer borders of his feet, or better still, when convenient, on tip-toe, as this posture strengthens those muscles of the leg which run into the sole of the foot and hold up the bony arches. ”

“ And with his perfect stride note how he works his feet to advantage: the right foot comes to the ground heel first, and as the left leg is swung in front of the right, the ball of the right comes down; [58] then, as the right foot rises to the toe position, the heel of the left strikes the ground and in turn takes the weight of the body. Notice how one foot is on the ground all the time; there is no possibility of a lift. A good test, to judge whether a walker is ‘lifting’ or not, is to note whether his head moves in a straight line; for, when one lifts, the head moves up and down. ”

“ It is our duty to adjust the foot covering to assist Nature in protecting the foot.
Commonly the fitting of shoes is influenced by a consideration of fashion and style and not comfort, with a resulting condition which most people cheerfully accept, thinking that by so doing their feet will appear small and neat but really causing a cramping and narrowing of the ball and toes, with possible chafing, blistering, callus or corns—conditions incompatible with walking efficiency. ”

“ 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. ”

“ You may stand on many of them for weeks together and not see one sharp, hot game of ball, or of anything else, where each contestant goes in with might and main, and the spectator becomes so interested as to hate to leave the fun. Foot-ball is a game as yet not at all general among us. Excellent is it for developing intrepidity and other manly qualities. The Duke of Wellington is reported to have said that her foot-ball fields were where England's soldiers [p.29] were made. ”

“ The great toe plays by far the most important part in walking, because when the foot is raised from the ground, with the intention of throwing it forward, we first raise the heel, then rest for a second on the great toe, and in lifting this from the ground the point of it receives a pressure which impels the body forward. Thus, in raising the foot, the whole of the sole is gradually, as it were, ‘unrolled,’ up to the point of the great toe, which again receives an impetus by contact with the ground. ”

“ Many years' experience of this plane foot-surfaced shoe, in various regions of the globe, and on feet of every kind and quality, have proved the soundness of this view. The foot is brought as near to a state of nature when the greater part of its plantar surface supports the weight of the body, as man can hope to achieve while submitting the horse to an artificial state of existence. ”

“ Another source of much amusement is the game of foot-ball, which they play with the bladder of a walrus. Their game is played neither according to Rugby nor Association rules, but wholly without rule or system. Men and women, old and young, join in the chase after the ball, with equal delight. “Here a woman, carrying her child on her back, may be seen running at full speed after the ball, and the next moment lying at full length with her naked child floundering in the snow, a few feet beyond her. ”

“ Though it be a black foot and an unwashed foot, it shall be exalted. It is a thing of life amid leather, a free spirit amid cramped, a wild bird amid caged, an athlete amid consumptives. It is the symbol of my order, the Order of Walkers. ”

“ It has often been noticed that a guide can go face forward, and whole-footed up a slope, while the amateur following, and coming to the steep part, has to go on his toes or turn sideways. It seems possible that the angle made by the foot with the leg may be more acute in the guide who has climbed from infancy, and though it is probably very much a matter of balance, I wished to compare photographs of amateurs’ feet when put into similar action. The guides wear thick leather boots loosely laced at the top, so that it is difficult to see the play of the ankle. ”

“ The feet in all climbing should be placed lightly, and the swing of the leg kept under control. To aim the foot, as many do, from the thigh and knee, bang it in, and then leave it to settle itself on the hold, is to jar the foot and fatigue the leg. The movement should be precisely directed from start to finish, and no sinew slackened until the other foot has taken charge. In continuous climbing the position of the foot on the new foothold should be chosen with a view to its supporting the balance during the next movement up or down, and the foot must be placed exactly as the eye designed. ”

“ In balance climbing, footwork must be placed first. For footwork on rock the right footgear with the right sole is all-important. If we wear a nailed boot, it should be as light as is consistent with strength and the weight of the climber—that is, of the lightest alpine pattern. [10] Large men often like the heavy iron-clad boot for the impetus it gives to a longer swing on levels or downhill. ”

“ The shoe should be long enough to extend well forward of the toes—two-thirds of an inch longer than the longest measurement of the naked foot; the inner sole border should be straight, broad across the ball and for average work on the roads need not be heavy but above all things it should conform to the foot. Have the heel fit snugly but across the ball or front of the foot arch no compression at all.
The tendency is to overdo foot covering, getting the shoes too heavy. There is no need of lugging around extra weight. ”

“ A little higher, I found the outline of a foot, not so small as to awake an ecstasy, but with a suggestion of lightness, elasticity, and grace. If hands were thrust through holes in a board-fence, and nothing of the attached bodies seen, I can easily imagine that some would attract and others repel us: with footprints the impression is weaker, of course, but we cannot escape it. ”

“ You will, perhaps, think it a misfortune that the breeches are not longer, for all below is spindle-shanky, in somewhat ludicrous contrast with the amplitude above, and the broad, big foot. How such a foot finds its way through so narrow a boot-leg is not easy to guess. The men are generally tall, with oval faces of a quiet, honest expression. ”

“ The room is entirely filled, while at the same time the foot is easy, and can make its natural movements in walking with ease and grace; which it can not do when squeezed into a boot that is too tight. A person wearing a tight boot has a stiff and unnatural walk, which can not be compensated by any beauty of the fit so gained, provided it is gained. ”

“ Having thus arranged her coiffure, she seated herself upon the edge of the ivory footstool and commenced to untie the little bands which fastened her buskins. We moderns, owing to our horrible system of footgear, which is hardly less absurd than the Chinese shoe, no longer know what a foot is. ”

“ Running on the toes on a path is to be recommended, as enabling a longer stride to be taken, and giving an easier motion to the body, and less jar at each step. In heavy ground, however, it is of little use, as the sinking of the toe in the soil interferes with the spring, and necessitates a larger surface of the foot to get a purchase for the next stride. ”

“ But as climbers learned to master balance during any movement and in every attitude, and to depend less and less upon the hand, they became naturally alive to the advantage of adopting footgear which secured safer and more continuous progress by adapting the feet to the surface, and saved [Pg 284] them the time and rhythm lost in stopping to alter the surface to suit their feet. ”

“ This justifies the conclusion, that all the variety of motion, and complete adaptation to an infinite number of uses, which exists in the hand, exists also to a less degree in the foot, and can be brought out and exhibited, much of it at least, under circumstances requiring its development. There is no reason for scepticism as to the foot’s concealed powers—none for withholding the admiration due to its perfect performance of the offices for which it is designed. ”

“ From the above it will be seen that there is plenty of room for improvement in the ski-runner’s footgear. We recommend a thick under-sock, a pair of good “Ladder,” a stout boot, fitting well about the ankle, but with plenty of room at the toes, and a piece of skin covering the toes and held in position by the toe strap. But, all the same, we frequently suffer from cold feet, and we wish somebody would invent something better. ”