The Spokane press. [volume], January 09, 1910, Image 18

About The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
THE beautiful foot is that of the baby.
It is beautiful because it is natural, un
marred by ill-fitting, cramping, distort
waa. 4ng shoes. "
Just in so far as tho foot has depnrtecr-from
its original shape- and habit is it less than
perfect. It is hard, indeed, to find a beautiful
foot. The story is told of a New York sculp
tor, who, Marching' for a perfect f00t,., d-isr
missed three thousand models who were ap
plirwwts for the honor, declaring that""there'
was not one beautiful foot among them.
By the established modern standard, tbe
foot should be neither small nor large, though
it is preferable that it be small lather than
large. The tiny foot of a large woman is ab
surd. It suggests deformity. Bo does' IMF
shrfff "foot on the tall woman. The foot
shuttle seem to belong to the woman, not to
have been loaned to her for the occasion. Like
hcrTFiand, it should seem to be In perfect har
mony with the rest of her body. If the
owner be plump, the foot should not be thin.
If she be thin, the foot should not be plump.
It should be neither bony nor too fat. The
bones should be well covered, but their out
line should be plain enough to give a certain
'ffftittnetlnn cllod "character- to t! foot. The
toes should spread comfortably apart, yet
there should not be unseemly spaces between
them. The spaces should be slight and even,
like those between regular and well-kept
teeth. The skin should be smooth and pinky
white. The nails should be strong but
smooth and semi-transparent and delicately
pink. Above all, there should be no blemish,
no disfiguring corn on ttie small toes, no en
largement of the joints, nor bunions, no cal
loused spot upon tbe sole. Tiie high-bred
foot lies, according to existing standards, not
flat upon the ground, but rests upon t.ie heel
and front part of the sole, so that a rill of
water may easily run under it. To corre
spond with tills natural bridge, there must
also be an arched instep.
This is the standard.
Now how to achieve it. First, wear shoes
that are large enough, and let them be of soft,
pliable leather. Large enough, I said, but not
too large. The foot that slips about in large
shoes Is as likely to get callous disfigure
ments as the one that is pinched. Heavy
leather and thick soles have no place on a
woman's delicate feet. The gtiff, unyielding
boot may be all right upon the masculine
foot, and it may keep more perfect upon the
luch-tbtck sole, but the skin of a woman's
foot is too tender for tliis. Tiie leather should
be close but fine, the soles of medium thick
ness. But I cannot lay too much emphasis
upon the need of a straight, oven heel on tho
shoe. The heel Is to the siioe what the cor
nerstone is to the house. It is quite as nec
essary that it be well luid, straight and se
cure. The crooked he< 1 threatens the health
as the insecure crncstoue disturbs the se
curity of the bouse.
The run-down htMl disturbs the ■ djustmont
of the internal organs. It pushes BOOM of
them close upon each other, draws others
away from their natural support. It destroys
the balance of tho foot, pausing blisters nnd
callous spots. It throws the weight where
It should not be, doing violei.. c to tiie center
of gray It jr.
Wntrh your h»els as closely as you should
the running time of your watch. When the
bottoms of the heels disclose an inclined
plane at the back or the sides, you will find
a corresponding blister of newly formed eal-
Jnus spot on the sole. Your ounce of preven
tion Is sanding the shoes to a cobbler the
moment you see the hint of crookedness In
tho heels. They can ba planed or built up
to their former evenness very Blight ex
pense. Tho money spent thus is much less
than the ft* of a chiropodist that you will
SUV*.
Having formed the habit of wearing com
fortable shoes —snd let be say here that
American ah an urn the best and that I al
wuys wear them —see that tiie feet are re-
ItuHod often from their prison. Kvcn the
best pair of shoes Is *> prison. In your own
room wear tbe Japanese sandals that protect
tbe delicate soles from the floor, but leave
the toes free to lie loosely apart, though they
are secured by strong cross bands. 'fuse
•stive the muscle* of the fee; a chance to relax.
They are much better for this purpose than
the felt slipper or Shoe, which is too vlos- ly
woven to permit proper ventilation.
The feet, like that other extreme of ihe
body, the hair, need sunlight. Think how
little the poor, Imprison id feet get. They
need air. How little of that they get.
"Thrust cottcn beneath the corner
of the nail to cure an ingrow
ing nail."
Well-shaped feet are so mvi h rarer today
than they were In the days of tlie Romans
and Greeks, ,aalaly because we Imprison them
in unVentlintel, sun-forbidding ihoes Instead
of wearing the x until of the ancients, which
gave the feet the light and air they need.
It is unfortunate that the arbiters of fash
inns have not seen fit to condemn modern
shoes in favor of the ancient sandal. More
harm is done to the feet by the presenUday
footwear, than is done to the hiir by rats and
puffs or to the vital organs by tight titling
corsets.
Some years ago it dit become the fashion
for children to wear sandals, but their eiders
were not wise enough to follow their example.
But if you cannot wear sandals yourselves,
there is no reason why you shouldn't have
your children wear them, for it Is even more
important that the child's feet be properly
taken care of than the adult*.
In early life tiie hones are naturally soft
and may be readily forced out of their i nrmal
shapes by any considerable exterior pressure,
It Is obvious that to maintain the proper con
tour of the child's feet, the sandal is much
more satisfactory than the shoe. The formei
permits ihe feet to be flat on tiie ground and
spreads the toes, the latter crowds the toes
and empresses the whole foot.
And adults can Improve the condition of
their feet by wearing snndals in the house,
even if prevailing fashion does not permit of
their wearing them out of doors.
To be healthy, the feet must bo kept scru
pulously clean. So much are they exposed
to the dust of the streets, especially by those
who wear low shoos, that they need more than
the perfunctory share of the morning plungl
or shower. They should be bathed every night
in a foot-tub containing warm water. If the
feet be tender, the water should contain
borax in the proportion of an ounce to a
gallon.
Warm salt water Is also very easeful for
tired feet, especially useful for reducing the
congestion in swollen feet. This powder,
sprinkled into the warm bathwater, affords
great relief—use one teaspoonful to a gallon
of water:
Borax (powdered), 1 02.
Eea salt, 1 os.
Alum, 12 oz.
l"or tired, swollen feet, toman juice, sprin
kled freely Into the water, Is S means of ulle
viation. An easier way to apply it Is to cut
a lemon in half ami rub the soles of the feet
with it.
Colli used spots may be removed from the
sole by planing off the rough surfaces with
pumice stone.
ii.igiisii women give case to lluir feet after I
a long walk by Mstblng them M an infusion of I
rosemary I eft VOX Ste. n the rosomary leaves, j
a half pound to a gallon of water. When '
cool, bathe the feet for 20 minutes in the 1
mixture, adding warm water now and tiien,
M the water iv the foot-tub cools.
For feet Inclining to excessive perspiration,
a powder made of these ingri dictate should
be used in tiie footbath:
Tannin, 80 grains.
Alum a drams.
XiycopotUnm, C drama.
THE SPOKANE PEESS, SUNDAY, JANUARY 9
Copyright. 1000, by American-Examiner. Great Britain Rights Reserved 1 .
•kin, usually appearing upon the top of the
toes. Bach speaks loudly of pressure by
shoes. No Indian ever had a corn until he
began wearing* the white man's boots. Corns
and bunions are the record of the fact that the
Shoe, as many wear It, is an instrument o'
torture. If the corns be new and not deep
seated, they can be removed by se.f-treat
blent.
Soak the feet from fifteen to twenty min
utes In warm water, softened by k few drops
of vlolel animoniii, or of benzoin. Bind a
slice of lemon on tbe toes, tying it securely
Willi a bandage of white muslin. If the corn
respond! naturally to the treatment it should
be so loose after three or four applications
that you can push it out by gentle friction
witli a towel Never use your finger nails In
extracting a corn, no matter bow loose It
Seems. Blood poisoning might result.
If the case is more obstinate, this, applied
with a small camel's-halr brush s.iouhi be
quickly efficacious:
Collodion, 4 grams.
Ether (65 par cc.it), a grams.
Alcohol (95 per cent), 1 gram.
Tincture of Cannabis Icdica, 1-4 gram.
SaJycilic acid, 1-2 gram.
Bess expensive Is this:
Collodion, 1 oz.
8.-rate of sodium, 1 dram.
Fluid extract of Canpadis Indies, 1 f^fi
If the corns in the -.-.off variety tint
grow between the toes, absorbent cotton oms>
dered with tannin or alum may he insSßtjß
between them. 11 plasters to protect tine
corn from further irritation by the shoe have
their friends and locs. 1 think It much wiser
to remove the press ,re pemunently by aban
doning the shoes thai caused It.
Bui ms or enlarged and inflamed Joints,
are tie greatest SffTictlon to w Icn suffering
foot can be subjected. A new broad pair of
siloes wiih low heels is the best remedy. To
ai sist this remedy, the joints nay lie painted
three times adr with this simple but strong
bunion lotion:
'I lnctnre o! iodine, a drama.
Carbolic acid, a drama.
Glycerin, a drama.
Tills yet simpler powder is much used for
perspiring feet:
Powdered orris root, 1 oz.
Powdered alum, 1-2 02.
Kice powder, 3 ozs.
The nails should lie cut square across, ox
.l when the formation of the toes, acquired
! v close pressure of the toes upon each other.
. . tnds that the nail he cut round to adapt
"The nails should be strong but
smooth and transparent
and delicately pink."
itself to the shape of tho toes, when it may
be necessary to round them.
At the first sign of an Ingrowing toe nail
each id' two simple remedies may be used.
The corner of the nail at the side whore the
toe is Inflamed may be gently lifted and cot
ton thrust beneath It to relieve the pressure.
Also at the middle of the upper edge of tbe
nail a tiny » may be cut. Nature In extra
'efforts to iieai this breach the neal with
draws lor forces from the irritation of tbe
' side of the toe.
I Light massage by a skilful masseusee Is
greatly beneficial to tired foot. Dancers,
I pedestrians and female cyclists have used
Mme. Cavalieri's Feet, Artists Say,
Are Among the Loveliest
in the World.
the foot is to sit with the feet scarcely reach
ing the floor, and press the fore part of the
sole upon the floor, This ulso strengthens
weak ankles.
FROM Chicago comes n letter from a H
year-oUI miss, who complains I lint her
bust is too small, and asks liow she
may develop it.
, My dear girl, la America, where the devel
opment of womanhood is slower than in the
Southern countries, it is remarkable that at
18 you have a bust, He patient and permit
nature to develop It. If you are till n and
anaemic, exercise freely in the open air, eat
nourishing food, as milk, meat, cheese, beets,
spinach and other vegetables containing iron.
■ Take plenty of sleep and let nature develop
you by her own slow process.
To have the sear made by a burn removed
I would recommend that my North Carolina
correspondent call upon the best physician it
is convenient for her to consult.
From Middletown, N. 1,, comes a request
fo| a good face powder that will tad s'.iow
too much. The best Is often the Simplest,
Qive a thorough trial to a good rice powder.
Perhaps you use too much powder. Dusted
very lightly over tic face, an application of
It should give tiie face a more refined look
and not be too obvious.
A girl writes me from the Fust Side In
New York and asks me what she may do to
"For tired, swollen feet, rub
the soles with half a
lemon."
freckles from the backs of her hand*. I
would suggest an application every night of:
Lemon juice, 9 ounces.
Almond oil, 10 drops.
Rub It thoroughly Into tho Akin on the
back oC the hands and wear large, loose
gloves, preferably rubber ones, for a few
nights.
"The toes should spread reasonably
apart, but there should be no
unseemly space be-
tween them."