Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 January 1887 — Women and Their Feet. [ARTICLE]

Women and Their Feet.

“Women who pose as models have, as a rule, poorly shaped feet,” said an artist to a reporter. “If their feet are not poorlj shaped, they are apt to he out of proportion by being top f mall. The reason is obvious. Women are ambitious to have small feet and hands, and at an early age they begin to wear tight shoes. The result is that their feet are cramped and do not grow with the other members of the body. Of course, there are some professional models who began early in life and never cramped their feet with tight shoes. They have correct proportions. I speak generally of the mass of women who become models after they are eighteen years old. Women imagine if they have small feet and hands they have all that is necessary to give them a shapely appearance. A worse mistake was never made. Women who are large should naturally have feet in proportion. From an art stic point of view they look better. But you cannot make them think so. A crusade ought to be waged against wearing tight shoes. The tight shoe, in the first place, cramps the toes all together, until they lose shape and become frescoed with corns. The foot doesn’t get the free circulation of blood in it that it should have, and falls behind in growth. The big toe usually bears the brunt of the sin for tight shoes, and manages to have a large lump gather just where it joins the body of the foot. The Americans are more prone to weair tight shoes than the English women. The French, outside of Paris, are not devoted to the semi-barbarous habit either, and some of our finest models came from the provinces of France. The nobility are supposed to have small feet and hands, but that is an erroneous impression, as many noble families I could mention in England are noted for their large feet. To produce a race of perfectly shaped women a reform must be made in their shoes, even if we have to substitute the ancient sandal.— stew York Mail and Express.