Tennis shoe

“ She used more caution after this experience, and made the discovery that tennis-shoes afforded a much firmer foothold than ordinary leather.
The delightful do-as-you-like days were a real rest [191] to everybody. Even wet weather had its enjoyments. The family would don mackintoshes, oilskin caps, and rubber boots, and go for rambles in the rain, plunging among wet bracken and herbage, fording small streams, and generally behaving like ducks or other aquatic creatures ”

“ A narrow ribbon tied around the head, low over the forehead in the front and tied in the back is a becoming accessory which will serve to keep the hair in place.
White canvas or buckskin oxfords or shoes with flat rubber soles are the only footwear permissible for tennis. ”

“ Some sprinkle lime water over the places where the worms are numerous, and as this brings them squirming to the surface they are swept away and destroyed.
It goes without saying that all tennis players should be required to wear rubber-soled shoes without heels. The damage to the court from shoes with heels is sometimes so great when the turf is soft that it will take half a season to repair it. Where tennis courts are a part of the general lawn a horse machine may be used for cutting the grass. ”

“ Did you ever stop to think how many different qualities you expect in a shoe? You want the sole to be hard and firm so as to protect your feet in rough walking; and also soft and yielding so as to feel springy and not board-like. You want the upper leather to keep the cold air from coming in; and also porous enough to let the perspiration out. Your feet are not exactly like those of any one else; and yet you expect to find at any shoe store a comfortable shoe ready-made. ”

“ Every one of the ten toes should be allowed to grow to its proper size and should exert its due pressure on the ground when we walk, jump or run. The natural foot is a perfect arch, and its two columns the ball of the foot and the heel should be on an exact level, which means that the heel of the shoe should not be over a half inch in height. The heel of the shoe should also be large, in fact, nearly as broad as the broadest part of the sole. The inside of the shoe should be three quarters of an inch longer and a half inch broader than the foot that it is meant to cover. ”

“ Dowling, who for several years past has enjoyed the reputation of being the leading maker of Athletic Shoes in New York. We employ in this department the most skilful workmen, and use only the very best material, and are prepared to take special orders and make a special last for professional players.
The special attention of Ball players is called to our new genuine
KANGAROO BASE BALL SHOE.
The above cut represents this Shoe, which is made from selected genuine Kangaroo skin, all hand sewed, slipper heel, cut low in front, and wide, so they can be laced tight or loose as the player likes. ”

“ Counters and toe boxes (stiffening which is placed between the heel and toe cap and the vamp of shoe) are prepared in the same room with the heels. After they are made, they are sent to the making or bottoming room, where the shoe upper is awaiting them. As the counter is an important feature in the life of a shoe, much depends upon the quality of leather that goes into it.
The sole is next fed to a “splitting machine,” which reduces it to an absolutely even thickness. ”

“ The question of footwear at golf is one of considerable difficulty, but there is a general feeling in favour of shoes. My friend the Tooting Bec plusser affects a very showy sort of shoe with a wide welt and a sort of fringe of narrow strips of porpoise hide, which fall over the instep in a miniature cataract. ”

“ The shoemaker provides for this, first, by allowing sufficient length of sole to extend beyond the termination of the toe, and second, by the fit of the upper and the preparation of the sole. In this way, if the toe of the shoe strikes against a hard substance, the big toe of the foot will remain untouched.
Seventy-five per cent of the people have more or less trouble with their feet. Some of these troubles are caused by the manufacturer putting on the market shoes whose [82] lines look handsome and attractive to the eye, but are lacking in any other good features. ”

“ The Oxonian Shoe is, however, a very useful article, and if properly made, is the best shoe for walking and for wear. It laces up in front with three or four holes, and sits snug about the quarters and heel; the vamp comes well above the joint, and never hurts, by seams or pressure, the little toes: if it were not for the seam across the instep, girding and making it difficult to get the shoe on, and the frequent breaking at that part from the strain it undergoes, no shoe could be better. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The upper can be sewed together without lining, only some eyelets being necessary for lacing, and when drawn over such a last as is judged likely to fit the foot it may be roughly fastened down all around with a waxed thread. After trial on the customer’s foot, the upper can be ripped off and the sole-leather used for an insole or something else, while if the shoe fits badly the last is easily modified, before making a permanent article. ”

“ By this it will be seen that his system for varying the width of his lasts, is one-eighth of an inch for each size across the ball, and one-sixteenth of an inch across the heel. With his three marked C, M, F, [1] &c., you have three degrees of fulness for each last, making it the most convenient system in use. The upper of A. No. 6 ladies’ shoe, should measure eight and five-eighths inches over the highest part of the instep; the No. 2 should 93measure seven and seven-eighths and one-sixteenth, over the same part. ”

“ Other varieties of tennis posts can be used if needed, but the wooden poles supported by guy ropes and pegs are the least satisfactory. The pegs are constantly pulling out and destroying the sod. Straight iron anchor posts are better than these. They are driven in the ground, and by means of triple claw clutches they are held rigid. In place of the iron center forks for holding the middle of the net at the regulation three-foot height, canvas center straps are now preferred. The canvas straps do not chafe the net, and cannot cause the ball to glance off and strike out of court. ”

“ Another is that the horn is softened for a time and expanded, allowing nails to be easily driven, and then contracting and retaining them more firmly. The objection to hot-fitting applies only to its abuse. The advantages are greater exactness of fit, greater security that the shoe will be firmly retained on the foot, and greater facility in the operation of shoeing. Perhaps I ought to add that when cold-fitting is inevitable machine-made shoes are the best, because they are more regular in form, and more often level on the foot-surface than hand-made shoes. ”

“ When the under-surface of a horse's foot resembles in form the outside of a saucer, fitting a shoe becomes a work of art. Very often the wall is brittle and broken away and it is most difficult to find sufficient bearing-surface on the foot for a shoe. Many of these feet may be safely shod with a narrow shoe that rests only on the wall and the intermediate horn between the wall and sole. ”

“ But, where the sole has been mutilated by unskillful shoeing, the concave and plane surfaces have to be reversed. Whatever form is adopted, the shoe must fit the foot, its outline corresponding exactly to its ground-surface. The shoe must be of the same thickness throughout; where calks are required, they should be of equal height, at heel and toe. The number of nails to each shoe, for a saddle or light draught horse, need not be more than five or six in the fore and seven in the hind, but more widely distributed than they usually are. The hold of the nails should be short. ”

“ The great fault with modern shoes is that their soles are made too narrow. If one would secure perfect healthfulness of the feet, he should go to the shoemaker and step with his stockinged feet on a sheet of paper. Let the shoemaker mark with a pencil upon the paper the exact size of his foot, and then make him a shoe whose sole shall be as broad as this outlined foot. ”

“ When shoes are fitted close (i.e., when their outer edge is brought within the border of the wall) "fine" nail-holes are brought to their best position in relation to the foot. It need hardly be added that the fit of a shoe ought not to be subject to the position of the nail-holes, but that these should be properly placed so that fitting be guided only by the requirements of the foot. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As the cutting of the uppers and the stitching operations of a turn shoe are the same as the Goodyear and McKay, and have been explained, we will take up the forming of the sole, which is entirely different from either of the other two methods.
A turn shoe is put together wrong side out, and it is necessary, during the course of making, to turn it by rolling the sole up like a roll of carpet. It is evident, then, that nothing but good quality, pliable leather can be used satisfactorily, and great care is taken to include nothing but the best. ”

“ The brush now smooths the surface of the sole, filling in all small holes with wax and leaving the sole absolutely perfect. Finally, the shoe is placed against a rapidly revolving brush which finishes the uppers with a luster that would make any ordinary boot-black green with envy. Another operation that fully completes the process is the hardening of the edges with hot steel, which ends in producing an edge that is as hard as iron. When it is polished with a black dye, it looks exactly like a new sole. ”

“ A good shoemaker would not like to make an Oxford shoe upon a boot last, although it is laced well up toward the ankle. Why should he be willing to make a boot on it, when the boot is confined at the instep no more than the shoe? There is the same danger of slipping in both cases, and why should it not be guarded against in the same way? Every one who has made or sold shoes knows that a slipper, or low shoe of any kind, will fit on the foot much better if made on a shoe last; that it is less liable to be loose at the sides, and to show big wrinkles across the ball ”

“ The sole and upper part of the shoe may be lined with flannel. The outside material and the flannel lining are seamed separately and the seams pressed open. They are then basted together with their edges even. The upper and lower edges of the slipper are bound with a bias seam binding. The upper part and the sole are overhanded together on the wrong side and the shoe is turned right side out. ”

“ Always dress in tennis clothes when engaging in tennis. White is the established colour. Soft shirt, white flannel trousers, heavy white socks, and rubber-soled shoes form the accepted dress for tennis. Do not appear on the courts in dark clothes, as they are apt to be heavy and hinder your speed of movement, and also they are a violation of the unwritten ethics of the game.
The question of choosing a racquet is a much more serious matter. I do not advocate forcing a certain racquet upon any player. All the standard makes are excellent. ”

“ The shoes are made in many shapes and of many sizes, ranging from two to six feet in length, and from ten to twenty inches in breadth. But for all practical purposes a shoe measuring three feet six inches by twelve or fifteen inches is the best. In racing, narrower shoes are used, but they rarely go below ten inches, that being the regulation measurement for club competitions. Then, again, some snow-shoes are turned up in front like tiny toboggans, instead of being flat, this kind being worn principally by ladies. ”

“ If the front action is high, short, or too rapid, not working in harmony with the hind, lower the quarters and heels of front feet as much as they will stand and keep a fair length toe on the front feet and shoe with a very light shoe and use a toe weight to balance for extension, place a spur for toe weight well up on toe of foot out of way of the scalping ”

“ A Rodway shoe has two longitudinal grooves and three ridges on its ground-surface. The outer groove carries the nails, [Pg 56] and the inner groove lightens the shoe and increases the foot-hold. It is not the number of grooves or ridges that prevents slipping; it is the absence of a continuous flat surface of iron, and the existence of irregularities which become filled up with sand and grit. A four-grooved shoe has no more anti-slipping properties than a three-grooved, and a one-grooved shoe is as good as either, although it cannot stand the same amount of wear. ”

“ A number of the queer "tennis racquets," as Alice called them, had been obtained through the good offices of Billy Jack, he having arranged for them in the lumber camp. Snowshoes, as you all know, consist of a thin strip of wood, bent around in a curve, and shaped not unlike a lawn tennis racquet, except that the handle or heel part is shorter. The shoes are laced with thongs, and the feet are placed in the centre of the criss-crossed thongs, and held there by other thongs or straps. ”