Top (toy)

“ Friction makes the gyrostats fall, what is it that causes a top to rise? Rapid rising to the upright position is the invariable sign of rapid rotation in a top, and I recollect that when quite vertical we used to say, "She sleeps!" ”

“ All art, as already noticed in the first chapter, recognizes the right of the toes to sufficient space to touch the surface upon which they tread. It does not crowd them or turn them aside from their natural straightness. [1] An observation of the best specimens of statuary will confirm the assertion, that the great toe ought, naturally, to lie pointing directly forward, in such a position that a line drawn from the inner surface of the heel past the ball or joint will be nearly parallel to it. ”

“ The top is then thrown either underhand or overhand and the string jerked back while it is still in the air. The object is to knock over someone else’s top which is already spinning. Tops are spun at and just after sowing time. ”

“ If the weight of the body is pressed forward on the naked foot as in walking, unless the foot has become thoroughly deformed, the toes will be seen to spread out, the great toe, which has only two joints, will spread somewhat inwards away from the others, and be firmly pressed upon the ground, while the other toes, which have three joints, will be slightly bent up at the middle, so that the soft cushions at their extremities exercise the grasping action before mentioned. ”

“ The inner margin of the boot or shoe must be made straight to the line of the big toe, and the toe of the boot must be wide enough to allow movement in the child's toes. The waist of the sole, which corresponds to the arch of the foot, should be to a certain extent elastic, and, if any heels are worn, they must be broad, low, and under the natural heel. ”

“ The great-toe, in any but the most perfect feet now to be found, is so easily diverted outward that socks and stockings with a straight inner line are very desirable; indeed, no others can be said to really fit the feet. When any considerable distortion exists, a separate stall for the great-toe is necessary.
For the reasons given, a last should have the inner margin nearly in a line with the inner side of the heel, and joining in front by a rounded angle a long curve on the outer margin, where no angle should be shown. The sole should be flat, touching the base-line in front. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In this shoe the great-toe is forced out of its natural line toward the other toes, giving a reverse curve from what is natural to the terminal part of the inner side of the foot, while all the other toes are compressed together toward the great-toe, the whole producing a wedge-like form of foot which is altogether apart from the natural. ”

“ The very same principle acts on the boys’ Tops, and is shown in a really remarkable manner by the professional Japanese top-spinners, who will place several tops upon each other, as shown in the illustration, and make them sway backwards and forwards in the most extraordinary manner, sometimes being all upright, and sometimes leaning almost at right angles to each other. ”

“ Stockings, Washing the Feet, &c.—Much more of comfort to the feet depends on the stockings than people are aware of; nothing can be worse than a stocking too large or too small, the more common case is its largeness, and when I see a cotton or thread stocking tucked under at the toe, and by the perspiration of the foot and the tread, become quite hard and compact, a hard ridge of a seam pressing on the toes, which show the marks produced by the pressure all over the surface, I wonder how persons can expect comfort. ”

“ Often, however, the pointed shoes have been worn in early childhood and the poor little toes, in consequence, have never developed, and are only rudiments of what they should be. In the classical foot the second toe is longer than the first, the third toe is the same length as the first and the fourth and fifth toes are well shaped and free from corns and spread out and take good hold of the ground when the person to whom they belong is walking. ”

“ Please neglect for a short time the slight wobbling motions that occur. One observation we make is, that the top does not at first bow down in the direction of the blow. If I strike towards the south, the top bows towards the west; if I strike towards the west, the top bows down towards the north. Now the reason of this is known to all scientific men, and the principle underlying the top's behaviour is of very great {32}importance in many ways, and I hope to make it clear to you. ”

“ Several almost fall in love with the great toe or the little one, especially admiring some crease or dimple in it, dressing it in some rag of silk or bit of ribbon, or cut-off glove fingers, winding it with string, prolonging it by tying on bits of wood. ”

“ It may be that the inner margin of the great-toe, if produced backward, would fall a little distance from the inner side of the heel. A perfect adult foot, in which the great-toe is not and never has been diverted outward, and in which there has been no consequent thickening of the large joint, is not easy to find. ”

“ So it is in the mill. After combing, the wool is gilled again by machines known as finisher gill boxes, and wound into a ball called a top.
10. A top differs from top. Top is the strand of long fibers which comes from the comb. A top is the ball of combed wool as it comes from the finisher gill boxes. ”

“ They are usually lined low enough to cover the top of the pleats, which thus brings it to about the hip. A facing is put down the front from the neck point to about 3 or 4 inches wide at bottom; this takes the holes and buttons. The bottom are usually a 28 line flexible, sometimes oval top, this size being about midway between a coat and vest size. ”

“ In ordinary cases, however, it is quite sufficient if the stocking is straight on the inside and does not press the toes in any way. If the foot is placed on a piece of paper and the body supported upon it, the foot can be pencilled round and an outline obtained on the paper, which will serve as a guide for the shape of the stocking and of the boot. ”

“ To compress the foot like the Chinese is as bad as to compress the head like the Flatheads, for the head and the foot are one body. The narrow feet,—they greet each other on the two sides of the Pacific. A sensible man will not follow fashion in this respect, but reason. Better moccasins, or sandals, or even bare feet, than a tight shoe. A wise man will wear a shoe wide and large enough, shaped somewhat like the foot, and tied with a leather string, and so go his way in peace, letting his foot fall at every step.
When your shoe chafes your feet, put in a mullein leaf. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There are also ‘stand-bottoms’ and ‘lick-ups.’ A ‘stand-bottom’ is where the shoe appears to be only soiled, and a ‘lick-up’ is a boot or shoe re-lasted to take the wrinkles out, the edges of the soles having been rasped and squared, and then blacked up to hide blemishes, and the bottom covered with a ‘smother,’ which I will describe. ”

“ The more the wood is taken off here, the more the foot will be thrown toward the outside of the shoe, or made to tread outside, and this will somewhat counterbalance the tendency which the toe has, when the end of it is made stationary, to push the joint and whole foot toward the inside. ”

“ The weight of a fair-sized woman is supported on a pair of green or blue pointed boots, measuring not more than four inches in length. If we could look inside, we should find the toes laid flat under the sole of the foot, the great toe meeting the heel. ”

“ A mere glance at our bare foot will show conclusively that pointed-toe boots are false in the theory of design. The toes of a foot when off duty touch each other gently. When they are called on to assist us in walking or in supporting our body, they spread out—although not to any great extent. ”

“ The toes in this instance are left perfectly free; the upper leather is secured round the ankle by a tie, while a thong, ornamented by a stud in its centre, passing over the instep, and between the great and second toes, is secured to the sole in the manner of a sandal. In order that the ankle-bone should not be pressed on or incommoded in walking, the leather is sloped away, and rises around it to a point at the back of the leg. ”

“ 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 116the 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. ”

“ The cause first operating to produce them is the wrong shape of the shoe at the inside, which gives the oblique position to the great toe. Narrowness and shortness are stronger influences acting in the same direction, aided still further by extreme height of heels, by changing, by narrow-toed stockings, etc. And it is especially worthy of being noticed that the short and narrow toes, and the high heels often adopted to improve the foot’s appearance, do thus inevitably defeat that purpose. ”

“ The foot is set more obliquely on the leg and the big-toe is farther from the rest, proportionally shorter and weaker, and, above all, more flexible. Certainly these important differences are connected with its mode of life, which is more arboreal than that of man. ”

“ The large as well as the small steps show the great toes alternately on the right and left side; each step makes the print of five toes, the first, or great toe, being bent inward like a thumb. Though the fore and hind foot differ so much in size, they are nearly similar in form. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For cutting out the back part for this particular style begin to cut the back from the top from 1 to 20, from 20 to 21 down to F. Then continue cutting out from 20 to 12 towards 9 down to C and from C cross to D up towards 8 to 13 and 23. ”

“ We ought to be, and think we are, able to improve upon what was done by our ancestors of four hundred years ago; yet here is a sole that, notwithstanding its ridiculously long toe, is better adapted to fit the natural foot and preserve its shape than any of those made at the present day. A turn-up toe is not so objectionable, when of moderate length, as it leaves less necessity for a high heel. And if our shoes must have long and narrow toes, something like this is decidedly better, and no more ridiculous, than the cramping, distorting shapes now in use. ”

“ The second figure represents the cothurnus of the old Romans—a sort of boot-sandal, laced in front down to the roots of the toes, but leaving the toes themselves exposed and free, and with a sole like a sandal, evidently shaped to fit the foot—not the foot to fit it. The sturdy conquerors of the world did not, it is plain, believe in subjecting their toes to any such tyranny as we impose upon ours. Who can say the foot is not finely formed, although the toes are not drawn together into a pile? ”