Heel

“ While I was arriving at a decision she raised the slenderest, whitest, most adorable pink-soled foot it would be possible for any woman to possess, with dainty air from the water, bringing her knee beneath her chin, and placed her heel upon the rock upon which she sat. ”

“ And this mark told nothing except that whoever made it set her heel—that is, the heel of a low shoe, size six—on top of the other mark."
"Only one heel-mark?"
"Only one. The sole, and the other foot, must have rested on the hemlock needles and other loose stuff. The ground was only partly bare." ”

“ If the Almighty in perfecting the human foot had found a high heel necessary it would have been provided. The artificial heel, especially the very high heel commonly used on shoes worn by women, is an insult to Nature, to the Creator. ”

“ It is usual, in all shoes of even moderate strength, to make the heel a little higher by means of what is called the heel-piece. These heel-pieces are generally of some little use, especially in dirty weather, and we cannot wholly deny their right to existence. ”

“ And you can see for yourself, artist or no artist, that if you throw yourself into an attitude, and lose your balance, you will come with a crash to the ground.
Your heel, or toe, or whatever happens to be your support, must come under the centre of your spinal column. ”

“ Heel, hēl, n. the part of the foot projecting behind: the whole foot (esp. of beasts) : the covering of the heel, as on a boot: a spur: the hinder part of anything.—v.t. to use the heel: to furnish with heels: to arm with a steel spur, as a fighting cock: to seize by the heels: (U.S.) to supply with money.—v.i. to follow well (of a dog) .—n. Heel′-ball, a black waxy composition for blacking the heels and soles of boots, for taking impressions of coins, &c., by rubbing: a shoemaker's last.—p.adj. ”

“ The heel, on the bottom, is quite convex, which allows the heel of the foot to settle down into that of the boot more than usual, and thus what appears to be a high heel, outside, feels, on the foot, to be no higher than one made upon ordinary lasts an eighth of an inch lower. There is hence so much less pressure upon the ends of the toes. ”

“ High heels throw the foot into the front of the shoe, cramp the toes, and destroy the natural action of the foot. The French heel, so coveted by many ladies, is an abomination. It is not only too high, but, being placed under the arch of the foot, defeats Nature’s purpose in the construction of the arch. Children under twelve years should not wear heels. ”

“ The natural position for the foot is, of course, with both the heel and the ball of the foot on the ground. For some reason it has become the universal custom among civilized people to raise the heel off the ground by adding a heel to the shoe. ”

“ It is no larger than your hand; it is finely shaped, the heel a trifle long, the outline clean, and the great toe lies close to the others, as if they were pressed into a slipper. It is a beautiful foot. ”

“ The position of the foot is that of a dancer resting on the toes, excepting that the heel is supported, and the strain over the instep and contraction of the muscles of the back of the leg and heel must be considerable ”

“ A very high heel—higher than other women are wearing—will make people think that you are trying to make yourself look taller than you are.
Make the most of your appearance—your height—as it is. You know you can make yourself look taller without anyone suspecting it by choosing clothes that have long lines. However, if you are short and slim, your charm is in the very fact that you are small and petite and you can wear almost any style that fashion dictates, avoiding an elaboration of drapery on a skirt, or a voluminous wrap or extremely large figured materials. ”

“ I know nothing at all about principles; but I know, if you do as I bid you, and put the ball of your right toe to your left heel, and raise the fore part of your feet, and come smartly, heel round, on your two heels, and bring back your right sharply and square with the left, you will come to the right about like a man and a musketeer. ”

“ That which is called opening a heel is in reality contracting it, for the roundness or circumference of the hoof being cut in this 'opening,' there is nothing left to sustain the heels; therefore it inevitably happens, if there is any weakness in the foot, that it contracts. ”

“ Those who are incapable of getting into a shoe compared with which Cinderella's glass slipper would appear gigantic, have recourse to the stratagem of wearing a similar model fitted with a high heel set in the middle of the sole. ”

“ He set his whole foot flat on the ground, and in turn lifted it all at once—not resting momentarily upon the toe as the foot rose nor upon the heel as it fell. He never wore his shoes out at the heel and the toe, as most men do, more than at the middle. ”

“ I think that the ankle has no nobility, and that the heel is commonplace. But the neck is well placed and well shaped, the curved lines are wavy enough, the shoulders are plump and well modelled.—The woman would make a passable model and several portions of her would bear to be cast.—Let us love her.
I have always been like this. For women I have the glance of a sculptor, not that of a lover. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The outer wall is, as a rule, somewhat more slanting than the inner. Viewing a foot in profile, the toe and heel should be parallel; that is, the line from the hair to the ground at the toe should be parallel to the line from the hair to the ground at the buttress. ”

“ But for the average woman the prettiest footwear is a pump with a moderate heel, fastened about the ankle with ribbons which cross the leg several times. This gives the impression of the Greek dancing-sandals, and also accentuates the slenderness of the ankles. ”

“ If the heel on one side of shoe is three-quarter of an inch longer, or half inch longer, this long heel hits the ground first, before the opposite heel hits, which is unnatural and disagreeable to the bones of the feet, that work in sockets. ”

“ At first sight one is apt to think a high-heeled shoe a rather complicated shape, but if you try to analyse it as a rough block, it is no more or less than a wedge. the high heel gives the greatest depth, the toe gives the narrowing point, the tread of the foot—heel and sole of the shoe—a flat line. ”

“ The heel of the right foot strikes the ground first. As the left leg is swung in front of the right, the foot of the right comes down flat, then, as it is raised to toe position, the heel of the left strikes the ground and in turn takes the weight of the body. ”

“ The chief points to be observed in getting boots or shoes are that the toes should be broad, to allow full play to the toes of the foot; the heels, if any are worn, should be low and broad, and under the natural heel, instead of being a sort of peg pushed forward right into the middle of the foot, like the fashionable Wurtemburg heels. ”

“ If they be trodden on one side, loose on the foot, or run down at the heel, it is a very bad sign; and, as to slip-shod, though at coming down in the morning and even before day-light, make up your mind to a rope, rather than to live with a slip-shod wife. ”

“ But in walking backwards a man puts down the ball of his foot first and makes but a very faint impression with his heel. If he walks very carefully because he is not sure of the ground, or because it is dark, he may take four or five steps without bringing his heel to the ground. ”

“ How does one manage to dance through one's heels first? Look at this—isn't it shameful? (Spreads stocking-heel on open hand for inspection.)
Miss D.—Never mind that! You can't mend it. Help me with this hateful bodice. I've run the string so, and I've run the string so, and I can't make the fullness come right. ”

“ Imagine drinking champagne out of a low-heeled mannish-looking shoe—not that anybody does that nowadays except in books, but you get the idea. Besides, high heels make your feet look littler and your ankles slimmer. ”

“ Not so are the ladies’ shoes, for they only are allowed the privilege of discomfort, fashion having in this country declared in favor of small feet, and the prejudice of the people having gone with it, the feet of all ladies of decent rank in society, are cramped in early life, by being placed in so strait a confinement, that their growth is retarded, and they are not more than three or four inches in length, from the toe to the heel. ”

“ A boot or shoe ought to fit easily, yet snugly and smoothly, all over the foot—around the heel and ankle as well as the forward part There is no necessity for pinching the instep or crowding the toes; no occasion for loose [Pg 134] leather at the ankle and heel; no propriety in wrinkles over the instep of a flat foot, nor having a slipper loose at the sides. All boots must have wrinkles at the ankle, and all kinds of covering must have some across the foot at the joints. There need not be any of marked size elsewhere, nor should these be as large as they commonly are. ”

“ Can there be a more ridiculous appearance than to see a smart fellow within the compass of five feet immersed in a huge long coat to his heels with cuffs to the arm pits, the shoulders and breast fenced against the inclemencies of the weather by a monstrous cape, or rather short cloak, shoe toes, pointed to the heavens in imitation of the Lap-landers, with buckles of a harnass size? ”

“ They always say, ‘Get off my heel.’ They are all like Lucy Long, ‘when her foot was in the market-house, her heel was in Main-street.’ It is the pride and boast of a darky. His head is as thick as a ram’s, but his heel is very sensitive. Now, does the soul reside there? Did you ever study a dead nigger’s heel, as we do a horse’s frog. All the feeling of a horse is there. Wound that, and he never recovers; he is foundered—his heart is broke. Now, if a nigger has a soul, and it ain’t in his gizzard, and can’t in natur be in his skull, why, it stands to reason it must be in his heel. ”

“ In natural walking the heel first touches the ground, and although it has even quite recently been maintained by Mr. Ellis3 [3] and others that the toes are first to come in contact with the ground, the truth of the reverse is conclusively proved by photography. In instantaneous views where foot passengers are, so to speak, arrested in the various stages of the series of movements which constitute a step, the leg is seen to be extended stiffly from the hip, the toes pointing upwards at almost a right angle to the heel, the back of which rests on the ground ”

“ The click-clack of the hundreds of wooden shoes of all sizes and intensities, rapidly "getting by," is something that can never be imagined. As these articles of apparel are seldom of a snug fit in the region of the heel, there is a peculiar introduction to each grand step. ”

“ They are generally, by narrow shoes, squeezed all of a heap, and often laid over one another in such a manner as to be rendered altogether incapable of motion. Nor is the high heel less hurtful than the narrow toe. A lady may seem taller for walking on her tiptoes, but she will never walk well in this manner. ”

“ Among us, a small foot has been desirable; so much so that women have been compelled to wear shoes which, by raising the heel several inches, make the ground-base of the shoe about two thirds the real length of the foot. ”

“ Thus it is when a high heel raises one abutment of the arch of the foot.2 [2] The strength of the natural support is lost, the centre of gravity is changed, and the whole method of walking has to be altered in order to maintain the equilibrium. Hence people who wear very high heels take small, mincing steps, are apt to totter and stumble in their walk, and are on the whole most ungraceful in their movements. This is one of the chief reasons why we see so few people who really walk well, for the boots of the A B Plate 6.—The bones of the foot at rest. ”

“ In fact soldiers wearing properly fitted heel shoes can march as far and fast as can be expected. Excessively high heels throw the weight too much on the ball of the foot, thus doing away with the benefits that come from the arching of the instep. ”

“ A figure seems to move only when the body, advanced before the centre of its two supports, throws the greatest part of its weight upon the forward leg, and thus relieves the hinder foot, which, with uplifted heel, touches the ground with the toes, in readiness to be removed. ”

“ In all Positions whatsoever, the Form of the Foot is known by these Marks, viz. That which resembles an O, represents the Heel; the Line join’d to it, the Ankle; and the Extremity of that Line, the Point of that Foot.
A half Position.
This Figure of the Foot, is but a half Position, because it represents but one Foot, whereas a whole Position does that of two, as in the Figure A B.
Position
’Tis to be observ’d, that the Letter A, in the foregoing Figure, represents the left Foot, and B, the right. ”

“ They are dressed much as they would be for football, except that their feet are shod with skates of a peculiar make, the heel projecting more than in an ordinary skate, in order to guard against getting a nasty fall when heeling up suddenly. ”

“ The right heel is pivotal, and the force is maintained by touches of the left toe or heel upon the floor. He will usually take from three to seven turns at a time, with a salaam or two between every series. ”