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CHAP.XIV.] bought ready-made, they must be specially manufactured or knitted at home. If the demand for them becomes sufficiently general, the supply will soon follow. Failing these plans, however, ordinary stockings may be bought a couple of sizes too large for the one who is to wear them, and then cut to the proper shape and carefully sewn at the edge with darning wool.

It may perhaps be thought that it is sufficient safeguard to have the stockings over-large; but it is not so, for in putting on the boot or shoe the toes are forced down to the end of the stocking, and the loose part of the stocking at the heel only makes matters worse by pressing the foot forward into the boot.

There is much to be said in favour of stockings made with toes, as gloves are made with separate stalls for the fingers, and these are especially desirable when the toes have already been deformed by improper clothing, and in cases where the feet perspire offensively. In ordinary cases, however, it is quite sufficient if the stocking is straight on the inside and does not press the toes in any way. If the foot is placed on a piece of paper and the body supported upon it, the foot can be pencilled round and an outline obtained on the paper, which will serve as a guide for the shape of the stocking and of the boot. The outlines of both feet should be taken in the same way, so that both may be properly fitted.

Children are more liable to have ill-fitting boots than adults, because whereas adults, if they are