Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1910 — SHOE SIZES. [ARTICLE]

SHOE SIZES.

How th* ItaMlWl at XVmm EWbUsked. 7 V. It Is moat difficult for many persons to remember the sixes t>f their different Articles of wearing apparel. cellans, shirts end gloves are easy enough, because In the case of these It Is a matter of actual inches. But ths hat and shoe numbers are what puzzle most people, to say nothing of the mystery why a No. 11 stocking goes with a No. 8 sho^ This last puzzle is, however, easily explained. Stockings have always been measured by the Inch from heel to toe, but the numbering of shoes was fixed a long time ago by a Frenchman. The Frenchman permanently fixed the of shoes for all Europe and America. He arbitrarily decided that no human foot oould possibly be smaller than three and seven-eighths Inches. So, calling-this point zero, he allowed one-third .of.ah inch to a size And accordingly built up bis scale. It followh therefrom that a man cannot find out the number of his own shoe unless he be an expert arithmetician. Even then he is likely to go wrong, because all the shoe experts allow for the weight of the Individual and the build of his foot before they try to determine what size shoe he ought to wear. As far as women’s shoes are concerned the problem is still more difficult, because many of the manufacturers Instead of keeping to the regular scale have marked down their numbers one or two sizes In order to capture easily flattered customers. For this reason most dealers ask out of town customers to send an old shoe with their orders. The system of measuring hats Is much simpler. Any. man can tell what size he wears simply by adding the 1 width and length of the Inner brim and then dividing by two. Orders can also be sent to the shopkeeper by stating the circumference of the head.— Boston. Globe.