The Proper Shoe to Wear

1895

The Normal Shaped Foot Is the Handsomest One, After All.

"The nearer the normal shape of our feet we wear our shoes," says a veteran shoe man, "the better. If our feet have been distorted by improper shoes, the shoes should not conform to the distortions, anatomical shoemakers to the contrary notwithstanding, but should be made the correct shape, but of sufficient size to allow for and to accommodate the distortions, so that the foot will have a chance or opportunity in the shoe to come back to their normal shape. The exercise of walking in a correct shaped shoe will bring a distorted foot back to its normal shape, provided the distortion has not been of too long standing. The more we walk in an ill shaped shoe the more distorted our feet will become.

"The normal shaped foot, no matter how large it may be, is far handsomer than any distorted foot, no matter how small. In the normal shaped foot the phalangial bones of each toe lie in a straight line with the metatarsal bones of the foot, to which they are respectively articulated. And straight lines drawn lengthwise through the phalangial bones of each toe and the metatarsal bones to which they are respectively articulated and backward will all come out at one and the same point, the center of the heel, and radiate from that center like spokes from the hub of a wheel. What is wanted is a good fit and a shoe that conforms to the natural shape of the foot." — Shoe and Leather Facts.

Fits Horse With Snowshoes

1919

Mail Carrier Fulfills Contract Despite Heavy Drifts.

VANCOUVER, B. C., Canada. — By fitting his horse with snowshoes, "Ole the Bear" (A. R. Westerberg) was last week able to live up to the terms of his contract and deliver the mail from Downie Creek to Revelstoke, a distance of forty-five miles, making the trip in three days. Ole built the snowshoes out of birch bark, making them circular and about a foot in diameter. To protect his horse's legs he covered the upper part with old blankets and gunny sacks.

Up the Big Bend district, where Ole takes King George's mail, the snow is several feet deep, and is covered with a breaking crust. A short time ago George Laforme, a packer, lost thirty horses and mules in trying to bring them out over the treacherous surface.

Keep Your Shoes "New"

1902

Some people always buy the most expensive footwear, and always manage to look ill shod. Others haunt bargain counters and wear unpretentious shoemaker's shoes, and somehow the boot toe peeping from beneath their skirt is always of the neatest.

All boots, shoes and slippers intended for ordinary wear should be kept on their tree when not in use, and whenever the walking boots get damp, they must be rubbed with vaseline as soon as they are taken off, first, however, removing the mud and afterward padding them with soft linen rags or paper. This will preserve their shape and prevent shrinkage. Shoe polish should be used sparingly, and only after the dust has been wiped off, for more shoes are destroyed by the reckless use of polish than is generally supposed.

Peculiar Possessions and Collections

1900

Many people make collections of articles more or less interesting, but possibly few go in for such bulky objects as those chosen by a gentleman of Pontefract, in the north of England. Old doors are the object of his desire and he has a most curious collection. His doors come from old houses, castles and abbeys that have some historical interest. Household Words is responsible for the statement that not long ago he offered as much as five thousand dollars for a door through which, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, Danton and Robespierre passed to the guillotine.

Not quite as interesting in a general sense, but in all probability of quite as much interest to the collector, was a curious collection of corks owned by a Frenchman who died a few years ago at Paris. A fairly good history of his life was to be read on these corks, for he saved every one drawn for the delectation of himself or his friends, and on each he inscribed the date and particular occasion upon which the bottle was opened.

Probably nobody of to-day has a strong desire to bring together a great variety of teas and snuffs. Lord Petersham, however, a noted dandy in his day, had a hobby for collecting various kinds of tea and snuff. All round his sitting-room were shelves, on the one side laden with canisters of Souchong, Bohea, Congou, Pekoe, Russian and other teas, and on the other bearing handsome jars containing every kind of snuff the collector could lay his hands on.

Queen Margherita of Italy is the owner of a curious collection, one that has in it the interest of association. It comprises the foot- and head-gear of royal and imperial personages of different periods. It is said to embrace a sandal worn by the tyrant Nero, a pair of white slippers which belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, shoes worn by Queen Anne and the Empress Josephine, and gloves that were once the property of Marie Antoinette. — Youth's Companion.

Harry Potter Stresses Style in Shoes

Ogden, Utah, 1940

Ogden Women Invited to Visit New Firm On Opening Day

Grand Opening of Store Set Saturday

With a complete stock of the newest spring fashions and a store as attractive as the stock it sells, the Fashion Bootery will have its grand opening Saturday at 2481 Washington, according to Harry Potter, manager.

The store will specialize in women's shoes, hosiery, and bags.

"I am thrilled with the opportunity which this new store will give us to serve the women of Ogden," Mr. Potter said. "I extend an invitation to Ogden women to visit the store on its opening day."

"One of Finest"

"I feel this store will be one of the finest of the kind in the west," added Jack Porad, secretary of the firm. "This is our newest unit of 11 stores in Utah, Washington, Oregon and California. It will bring to Ogden something new in last minute styles from New York, Hollywood and Paris."

Exterior of the store is of Colorado Yule white marble, trimmed in bronze and maroon carrara. The entire interior is of natural walnut. The store is completely air conditioned, and all interior lighting is fluorescent.

Founded In Seattle

The Fashion Bootery firm was founded in Seattle in 1922 by Joseph Porad. Since then it has expanded through the entire west coast.

Harry Potter, manager of the Ogden store, comes here from Portland.

—The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden City, Utah, March 15, 1940, p. 4A.

The Douglas Shoe

1900

The best advertised and consequently the best known shoe in the world today is undoubtedly made by the W. L. Douglas Shoe Co., of Brockton, Massachusetts.

The one idea of this company has always been to sell a shoe for $3.50 which equals in every way the $5 shoes of any other concern. They are able to do this on account of there being no middle man's profit, as the goods are sold direct from the factory to the wearer. In 60 of the principal cities of the country they have their own retail stores. The goods are made in all sizes and widths, and few shoes equal them for style and durability.

The factory at Brockton employs over 3,100 hands, and, all labor troubles are settled by the state board of arbitration. Nothing but union labor is employed, and pay is about the best average wages of any shoe workers in the United States. The factory payroll amounts to $17,435 per week. This company makes shoes for men only, and it is their proud boast that over one million men wear them. — Denver (Colo.) Post.


Geese and Sages

One day in presiding at table at his country home in Windsor, Vermont, with a swarm of grandchildren about him, Senator William W. Evarts is said to have asked: "What is the difference between this goose before dinner and me after?" After much futile guessing, he answered, in quiet glee: "Now the goose is stuffed with sage, and soon the sage" — pointing to himself — "will be stuffed with the goose."


Words

In coining such modern words as "telegram," "photography," etc., the Japanese have recourse to the Chinese language, as we do to the Greek.

Keeping Men Out of Mischief

1915

To keep its men out of mischief a big coal company inaugurated the garden habit among its miners. Result!

Pay day sees far fewer fights, much less money spent for liquor and a larger sum carried home to the wife and children. I learn from the manager that besides these immediate effects many of the miners are now able to raise a considerable part of the vegetables their families eat.

Some of the large iron and steel companies divert their men with music. C. M. Schwab is patron saint of a great band at Bethlehem.

There are four bands or drum corps at the Cornwall Ore banks, and the Frick company goes the limit in mixing music with coke, having 14 bands at its various works.

Give men something pleasant to do, and they will spend less money and time for things that are unpleasant. — Philadelphia Ledger.


Asbestos

The first use of asbestos was in the manufacture of crematory robes for the ancient Romans.


Trade Secret

"Now the first thing to learn about the shoe trade is this. As soon as a customer comes in take off his shoes and hide 'em."
"What's that for?"
"Then you can wait on 'em at your convenience, my boy. They can't walk out!" — Louisville Courier-Journal.

Mail Carrier Puts Snowshoes on Horse

Feb. 1920

Man and Beast Finish 45-Mile Trip in Three Days

SEATTLE, Wash. -- "Old the Bear" (A. R. Westerberg), mail carrier between Revelstoke, B.C., and Downie Creek, forty-five miles up the Big Bend, succeeded in accomplishing a feat that established a new record in this district.

The great depth of snow up the Big Bend, together with the heavy crust caused by raining and freezing, made it practically impossible for a horse to travel the roads, but "Ole" conceived the idea of making snow shoes for his horse, which he did out of birch, constructing them circular in shape and more than a foot across.

For protection he covered the horse's legs with blankets.



Rope, Poison Fail -- Shoots Self

ELGIN, Ill. -- After two attempts at suicide -- one by taking poison and one by hanging -- had failed, Swain Wilkinson, an Elburn farmer, shot himself through the heart.

Starts for Money But Never Returns

California, 1917

A Mariposa street shoe store is short just one pair of $9 shoes and an attractive dark haired woman weighing about 170 pounds and standing five feet eight inches, is ahead one pair of $9 shoes.

According to a report made to the police department yesterday by the shoe store, the fashionably dressed woman, said to be strikingly attractive, entered the store Saturday night and after trying on many different shades and heights, finally selected a pair, and said she would wear them at once, and would the clerk please have the old ones wrapped up.

She said her brother was waiting for her outside and she would get the money from him, but she never returned, according to the report. The clerk was able to give an excellent description of the woman.

—Fresno Morning Republican, Fresno, CA, Sept. 10, 1917, p. 3.

Artwork -- Grandmother's Help -- 1880s

Throwing Old Shoes After a Bride

1878

The slipper or shoe is popularly supposed to be thrown for good luck, and in some parts of Europe the custom is to throw it after sailors about to go on a voyage, and after all who enter on perilous enterprises, such as marriage.

A writer in Notes and Queries traces it back to the Hebrews, where it had a different meaning, symbolizing a transfer of authority or dominion. References to this custom may be found in Psalm ix, Psalm cix, and in Deut. xxv. He supposes that the receiving of a shoe was an evidence and symbol of asserting or accepting dominion or ownership; the giving back a shoe the symbol of rejecting, or resigning it. He thinks that originally the throwing of the shoe after the bride was a symbol that the father or guardian renounced his authority over her, and the receipt of the shoe by the bridegroom, even if accidental, was an omen that that authority was transferred to him. There is no doubt that such was sometimes the meaning of the transfer of a shoe.

It is related by a Danish poet that a Norwegian king in the eleventh to twelfth century, having conquered a portion of Ireland and Scotland, sent to Ireland his dirty shoes and commanded the king, who lived there, "to wear them with honor on Christmas day in his royal state, and to own that he had his power and kingdom from the Lord of Norway and the Isles." If such was the original meaning of shoe-throwing, it has now lost its significance. Instead of one shoe, a dozen or more are thrown, and in some countries wheat, rice, etc., accompany or take the place of old shoes. The supposed meaning to-day is that the shoe thrown after a newly-married couple will give them good luck.

Two Illinois Girls Capture Wall Street, Polishing Boots

1903

GIRLS CAPTURE WALL STREET.

The Forest Sisters of Champaign, Ill., Polish the Brokers' Boots.

The very newest get-rich-quick concern that ever struck New York was launched in Wall street recently by two pretty young girls from Champaign, Ill. Marie and Belle Forest, two sisters, one 18 years old, the other two years her senior, invaded the field just before the bulls and bears had begun to shout their wares on 'change. These two enterprising maidens, both attractive brunettes, with the red rose bloom of country on their cheeks and smiling mischievously, were busy all day distributing tickets bearing the following legend throughout Wall, Beaver, News and Broad streets:

"This entitles the holder to one shine at the Eagle tonsorial parlor, No. 71 Wall street, on Monday, March 2."

At first the brokers and kings of finance turned to them the real icy countenance. "Don't want any women canvassers," was the answer the Illinois girls had in the offices.

By and by it was learned that the maidens were endeavoring to earn an honest living by shining shoes, and that, too, with dainty white hands. Then "the street fell." Before noon a thousand tickets had been paid for at 10 cents each, and the question now is, how are Belle and Marie going to keep the contract?

What they offer is to shine for one day the boots of every customer who enters the barber shop at No. 71 Wall street. While Marie is at one foot Belle proposes shining up the other.

"I'll just tell you how it was," said the latter, as she spread out fifteen tickets, fanshape, for speedy purchase by gallant brokers in the consolidated exchange. "Marie and I just came from Champaign and we had a notion to start a manicure parlor here. Everybody seems to get rich in this place. We thought it would be easy to earn an honest living.

"But in about three weeks we had not found a thing to do, and our funds were on the last ebb. We were living then in West Twenty-ninth street, right in the Tenderloin district, and the things we saw there just fairly sickened us."

"'Marie,' I said one day, when we did not know whether to have dinner or breakfast, for we were having but one meal per day, 'I'll do any mortal thing rather than live like these women around here. Ill black boots.'

"'Well, just that,' Marie said, 'let's black boots,' and now you know it all. We're going to be on hand next Monday bright and early, practice up in the meantime, and I'll bet we make a lot. Just see the way they're buying tickets."

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, Iowa, March 5, 1903, page 2.

Aged Shoemaker Dies of Apoplexy

1913--

AGED SHOEMAKER DIES OF APOPLEXY

McGREGOR, Iowa, Oct. 8.—Joseph Jacob Winterlin, who has been a shoemaker in Iowa for fifty years, died here of a second stroke of apoplexy shortly after midnight last night. He was born in Schleisingerville, Wis., April 13, 1849. He served his apprenticeship as shoemaker at Milwaukee. Soon afterwards he came to Elkport, Iowa, where he worked at his trade for a number of years. While in Elkport he married Miss Margaret Astfolk. From Elkport the family moved to Elkader and in 1896 to McGregor. He leaves a widow and seven children, Charles Winterlin of Davenport; Joseph and George Winterlin of St. Paul: Mrs. F. Vonesh of Janesville, Wis., and Anna, Will and Ben of McGregor.

--The La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, Wisconsin, October 8, 1913, page 4.