Shoe

“ Figure 11 shows a lady’s shoe richly painted with small flowers. In front is a knob of brilliant color, divided into segments to imitate the petals of a flower, and at every step the wearer takes she presses a spring [10] concealed under the sole, which causes the petals to alternately open and close. One can easily imagine the sensation such a shoe would cause, seen promenading along any of our prominent thoroughfares for the first time.
The shoes worn by the wealthy are of the richest description, being overlaid with gold and silver, and embroidered with precious stones. ”

“ They were the simplest and warmest kind of foot-covering to be obtained, when every man was his own shoemaker.
There was a form of shoe worn at this early time, in which the toes were entirely uncovered, and of which an example is given in plate II., fig. 3. It is copied from a marble foot in the British museum. This shoe appears to be made of a pliable leather, which fits closely to the foot, for it was considered as a mark of rusticity to wear shoes larger than the foot, or which fitted in a loose and slovenly manner. ”

“ The shoe is said to be 'worn out' when it has lost a portion of its substance at the toe—where the greatest amount of wear usually occurs, or when it has become very thin either over the whole surface, or in one of its branches. ”

“ Tremendous vanity, that one man should allow the mouth of another to be applied to his feet that he may have them trimly set out! The shoemaker unfolds the heel, turns round with the shoeing skin in his hand, and begins to fit the second part of the shoe upon the foot. He desires the gallant to put the end of the foot down, and the gallant does as he is desired. He draws the shoe towards him with such force that the person who is thus being shoed is compressed in an unseemly manner between the shoemaker's body and the back of the chair. ”

“ Another female’s shoe is given in fig. 4; it is a low slipper-like shoe, and is secured by a band across the instep, having an ornamental clasp, like a brooch, to secure it on each side of the foot; it was probably a coarsely-made piece of jewelry, with glass or cheap stones set around it; as the people of this country at that time were fond of such showy decorations, and particularly upon their shoes. The noblemen and ladies always decorated theirs with ornaments and jewels all over the upper surface, of which we give two specimens in figs. ”

“ The unchanging nature of a commodious fashion capable of adoption by the lower classes, may be well illustrated by fig. 2, plate II., which delineates the shoe or sandal worn by the rustics of ancient Rome. It is formed of a skin turned over the foot, and secured by thongs passing through the sides, and over the toe, crossing each other over the instep, and secured firmly round the ankle. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A wide shoe with a flat foot surface is easily fitted on all concave feet—i.e., on all hind and most fore feet. To make use of the whole bearing-surface a shoe must rest evenly from toe to heel—the flat surface of the shoe must take a level bearing on the whole flat bearing-surface of the foot. ”

“ To those custom shoemakers who continue trying to fit everybody without any specially-made lasts it is suggested that in some of the most difficult they make a trial shoe, the upper for it being cut from some cheap material, such as cotton drilling for representing serge or cloth, and split-leather or sheepskin for leather uppers, while a piece of insole-leather will answer for the bottom. ”

“ A piece of stout silk is generally attached to the heel for the convenience of pulling up the shoe.
Having bestowed some attention on ancient Egypt, we may briefly allude to the shoes of modern times, as given in Lane’s work devoted to the history of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians. They, like the Persian ones, have an upturned toe, and may with equal ease be drawn on and thrown off. Yet a shoe is also worn with a high instep and high in the heel, which will be best understood by the first figure in the accompanying cut. ”

“ If used on the inside heel of a shoe they constitute a danger to the opposite leg should they bend and protrude from under the shoe. As a temporary provision against a sudden frost or fall of snow they are useful—but they are only a make-shift. ”

“ The cheap wisdom of the amateur is often expressed in the remark "the shoe should be fitted to the foot, not the foot to the shoe." Like many other dogmatic statements this is only the unqualified assertion of half a truth. ”

“ A stamped shoe is one in which the nail holes are merely punched at certain distances, so as to leave four-sided tapered holes of the exact shape of a nail-head. A fullered shoe is one having a groove round the circumference through which the nail-holes are punched. ”

“ The position and form of the shoe have a marked influence upon its wear; at the place where the shoe is too far under the hoof either as a result of shifting or of having been nailed on crooked, or where the outer branch has not the necessary width, or does not form a sufficiently large curve, the wear will be increased. ”

“ The workman, it will be noticed, cuts the leather upon a sloping bench, exactly like that of the shoemaker already engraved.
The warmth and mildness of the East, rendered a close, warm shoe unnecessary; and, indeed, in the present day, they partake there more of the character of slippers; and the foot, thus unconfined by tight shoes, and always free in its motion, retained its full power and pliability: and the custom, still retained in the East, of holding a strap of leather, or other substance, between the toes, is represented in the Theban paintings ”

“ Much of the style of a shoe depends upon the wooden last over which the upper is shaped before being attached to the sole. To find a substitute for the human hand in fitting the shoe to the last and pulling the leather over its delicate lines and curves seemed for a long time impossible. ”

“ The shoe recommended to be worn by Mr Clark is that described by Osmer, though he says it was employed by him many years before that veterinarian's treatise was published. 'In shoeing a horse we should in this, as in every other case, study to follow nature; and certainly that shoe which is made of such a form as to resemble as near as possible the natural tread and shape of the foot, must be preferable to any other. ”

“ It is a grievous state of things that in this nineteenth century there are very few shoemakers in England who know how to make a shoe! The shoe is made not to fit the real foot, but a fashionable imaginary one! ”

“ It is not sufficient to find a shoe which is comfortable in the shop; the shoe may be wide enough, but unless there be some allowance in length, one’s toes will, after ten miles of hard walking, be squeezed till they are tender and blistered. A man who ordinarily wears a 9 B, for example, should buy a 91⁄2 D. There should be as much allowance as that, at the least. A roomy shoe, its looseness well filled (though not packed tight) with bulky, springy, coarse wool, coarsely knit, is the very best foot covering. ”

“ This natural bearing surface is what we want to utilize in shoeing. We put on a shoe merely to prevent excessive wear of the hoof. If we can protect the wall the frog can take care of itself, and we have only so to apply our shoe that we do not damage any useful structure or interfere with any natural function. ”

“ Fig. 3, delineates the most ordinary kind of shoe worn, with the opening to the toes already alluded to, for lacing it. But little variety is observable in the form of this article of dress among the Saxons; it is usually delineated as a solid black mass, just as the last figure has been here engraved, with a white line down the centre, to show the opening, but quite as generally without it, and these two forms of shoe or half-boot, are by far the most commonly met with, and are depicted upon the feet of noble and royal personages as well as upon those of the lower class. ”

“ A shoe ought to be made according to the shape of the foot—rights and lefts are therefore desirable. The toe-part of the shoe must be made broad, so as to allow plenty of room for the toes to expand, and that one toe cannot overlap another. ”

“ Before explaining the manufacture of shoes, it is necessary to fix definitely in our minds the names of their different parts. Examine your shoes and note the parts that are here described.
The bottom of the shoe is called the sole. The part above the sole is called the upper. The top of the shoe is that part measured by the lacing which covers the ankle and the instep. ”

“ Having thus produced both foot and shoe, as unsullied representations of NATURE and ART, and adapted the make of one to the formation of the other, with a consistency no man of common comprehension will presume to dispute, we proceed to an impartial examination of the letter B, which represents the mode of SHOEING adopted, and some time persevered in, at a place of veterinary celebrity, upon the discontinuance of the very short-lived concave shoe. ”

“ Rights and lefts were never thought of until after the Revolutionary War, but to-day the American shoe is the most symmetrical, comfortable, and satisfactory shoe made in the world. The British shoe is said to be more comfortable. ”

“ The shoe is regarded as constituting possession, nor is this idea unknown to ourselves, in being conveyed in the homely proverbial expression by which one man is said to “stand in the shoes of another,” and the vulgar idea of “throwing an old shoe after you for luck,” is typical of a wish, that temporal gifts or good fortune may follow you. ”

“ The shoe is made not to fit the real foot, but a fashionable imaginary one!
Let me strongly urge you to be particular that the sock or stocking fits nicely—that it is neither too small nor too large; if it be too small, it binds up the toes unmercifully, and makes one toe to ride over the other, and thus renders the toes perfectly useless in walking; if it be too large, it is necessary to lap a portion of the sock or stocking either under or over the toes, which thus presses unduly upon them, and gives pain and annoyance. ”

“ It is needless to say that the tortures of early youth are succeeded by a crippled maturity, a Chinese lady of high birth being scarcely able to walk without assistance. A specimen of such a foot and shoe is given in plate III.,{64} fig. 11. These shoes are generally made of silk and embroidered in the most beautiful manner, with flowers and ornaments, in colored silk and threads of gold and silver. ”

“ When time is not an object, the best test of a workman is to require him to make a fore and hind shoe and put them on the horse. At a one-day show, or at a competition when the entries are large, it is sufficient to require the making of a fore and hind shoe and the fitting and nailing on of the front one. ”

“ When a shoe is seated from one side to the other so as to produce a saucer shaped surface harm is done to the foot. Such a shoe presents no level bearing-surface, and the weight of the horse pressing the wall on an inclined plane causes the foot to be pinched or compressed in a manner which soon causes lameness. ”

“ He always recommends free paring, and for rough and brittle hoofs 'plenty of rasping on the outside to make them smooth, and the shoe put on with nine nails—four inside and five out.'
For the contracted or hoof-bound foot, he recommends paring the sole thin and opening the heels well, and putting on a shoe like a half moon. ”

“ It was always a favourite theme with people who did not understand much about shoeing, or the nature of the horse's foot, to dwell upon the injury done to the hoof by fitting a hot shoe to it, in order to adapt the armature more accurately to the surface on which it was afterwards to be nailed ”

“ And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed;
So shut your eyes while Mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,
And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock on the misty sea
Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,—
Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod. ”

“ Always regarding the shoe as an extension of the natural hoof in a harder and more durable material, it is evident that the most stability will be attained by the use of as wide a bearing-surface of foot and shoe as is compatible with ease and safety to the horse. ”

“ An assistant holds the shoe in a pair of tongs on the anvil, and it is pierced from fine to coarse by light blows, the punch being withdrawn quickly, and straightened if bent, moistened to keep it cool, and dipped in grease to make it cut more promptly. ”

“ The high heels of shoes add to the evil effects of the pointed toes, and a copy of a drawing from an advertisement figured by Sir William Flower recalls strongly the stunted foot of a Chinese woman which the wearer of the shoe would be one of the first probably to anathematize. ”

“ The shoe standing straight and just, drive in all the nails to the number of eight, four on each side, so as the points of the nails may seem to stand on the outside of the hoof, even and just one by another, as it were in a circular line, and not out of order like the teeth of a saw, whereof one is bent one way and one another way. ”

“ Apply the weighty side of shoe on the inside of foot, fix the outside of the foot from the center of toe to the outside heel the lowest, it will be good in some cases to have the outside web of shoe only one-half as thick as that of the inside, the thinner the outside the better for the winging in. ”