tion, as viewed in the foreign glass of fashion, which she has chosen to judge of her mold of form, being so satisfactory, it is folly for her to seek to exaggerate one of her physical traits which already verges upon excess.

The lowest type of foot is that of the negro. Its lowness is constituted by the simian flatness of the instep, the hollow of the foot being obliterated. The calcaneum, or heel-bone, standing at a considerable angle from the vertical, toward the rear, as a consequence lowers the arch of the instep. Instead of the foot as a whole being a high arch, it becomes none at all, from the fact that one of its abutments is thrown far away from the centre. In the highest type of foot the instep rises in a swelling arch. This trait may, however, like any other, be excessive. Then it becomes unsightly, and, reaching the extremest point, is a deformity. We have known a person who had a foot so short and an instep so high as to make the effect club-footed, and he (for it was a man) could not walk with ease. The Arab's test of elegance and refinement in a foot, that water will flow under its hollow, shows that early in the history of the human race anatomical differences in its types were recognized. The Arabs,

as a conquering race, were very early thrown in contact with the negro in Africa, and their own Eastern elegance of extremities must have struck them as in strange contrast with the negro's rudeness of form of the same parts.

It should be axiomatic that nothing, except face and hands, can be so aristocratic as a well-dressed, shapely foot; nothing so plebeian as an ill-dressed, clumsy one; and nothing more vulgar than any foot in a shoe manifestly too tight.

THE

CHAPTER XXII.

THE COSMETIC CARE AND TREATMENT OF THE FEET.

'HE civilized foot presents one of the best proofs of the correctness of the theory, that it takes a vastly longer time to affect the congenital features of a structure than to affect the adult form of them. It must be remembered that, what we call civilization has endured for only a few hundred years, and that it is only during this comparatively brief period in the history of man that the foot has been unduly constrained. Going back to the period when statuary brings us face to face with the general condition of the foot in ancient times, we find that the great toe stood somewhat outward, instead of, as now, standing straight forward, or somewhat inward, which is, perhaps, the most common modern position of the member. Children of civilization, when first born, exhibit this type of foot, but, whether or not they subsequently go barefoot, later in life exhibit one of the two other types. This shows, what has been proved in many other ways in connection with animal life, that through continuous modification of function on definite lines, the animal, when first born, may not show any change in structure, although, at a later period of the individual's life, the long-latent impression may come into visible existence.

Great absurdities are uttered regarding feet. We have known a foot to be called handsome because it was inordinately small, when it had not a single handsome attribute, the one specially praised being so much in excess as to amount to a defect. A foot, to be really beautiful, must have a fine instep, perfectly straight and individually symmetrical toes; the nails of rose-pearly, not yellowish, tint; heel of gently outward curvature; and, in general contour, be softly rounding and delicately tinted with a rosy

heel and outside edge. Smallness of size, which must be considered in strict relation to the whole person, is also an element of beauty in it not to be despised, if not present in excess. It is a beautiful foot that we have described, hard to find, and yet existing, and possible of maintenance in its pristine beauty by those who are sensible, to whom nature has been gracious in her gifts. So born, it may be so nurtured as to be to its possessor a useful companion in the path through life; but, maltreated, will, as surely as fate, repay in misery the indignities to which it may have been subjected.

So much suffering is often caused by corns and bunions as to make those afflicted with them unable to taste of the pleasures, or even to be equal to the comfortable performance of the duties, of life. The pitch of misery which is sometimes reached in consequence of their presence is well represented in the by-word of a charitable old friend of ours, who, when seeing a person cross and crabbed without apparent cause, always remarks, "Oh, poor thing, his [or her] feet must hurt."

It ought to be said, in this connection, that the culpability of having corns is much less than that of having bunions. Skins differ so much in different persons in softness and pliancy, that an ill-fitting shoe, as well as one too tight, is capable of producing corns. The presence of a bunion, however, is proof positive that shoes have been continuously worn too tight. The difference in the cases lies in this, that one affection arises from friction, or from pressure on the skin, but the other from pressure on a joint; and the latter proclaims at once through sensation the injury that is being done, while the former may go on for a long time without producing any sensation at all. Besides, as the two positions where bunions occur are on the main joints of the great and little toes, in both of which, unless there be malformation of the foot, pressure from a shoe is lessened by its distribution over a large curved area, the existence of the bunion

proves that the pressure to which the parts have been deliberately subjected was enormous. Thrice unhappy he or she who has a bunion surmounted by a corn as legitimate heir-apparent to the throne!

Our advice is, Don't. Do not deliberately do that which is certain to entail discomfort and perhaps misery to the end of life. Avoid so-called cheap shoes, the dearest one can buy. Unless you happen to know of a number for ready-made shoes which represents a size that exactly suits you, avoid all readymade shoes. The wretched period has passed when people had not even "rights and lefts," but wore what were called straight shoes, which were transposed every night, to shift their places in the next day's wear. Sensible, handsome shoes are procurable in every large city. Miserable ones are, of course, also to be found there, and so the purchaser, if wary, will avoid them. If there be no number among the ready-made shoes that represents for you an exact fit, have your shoes made to order, and do not take them unless you feel that they fit. Every one knows for himself or herself best where the shoe pinches, and whether or not it fits. Break in no man's shoes. The operation is at your untold expense. The test of whether they fit is to be found only by the sensation of feeling, not in the shoemaker's statement that they will soon come all right. The test for that sensation, as given by one of the best shoemakers whom we ever knew, was that in a well-fitting shoe one's foot feels like a duck's in the mud. The expression is not elegant, but a more elegant one would be less graphic.

Follow the guidance of nature; the shoemaker follows it in his own interest. Those worthy people sometimes flatter, as did the fox when he besought the crow up the tree, with a piece of cheese in her beak, to exhibit her lovely voice for his delectation. Nature prescribes that the toes shall lie straight, not be bunched up against their joints; that the sole of the foot shall