Page:Science ofDress255.png

CHAP. XIV.] stockings are not sufficiently damp with perspiration to render this necessary, it is always a good plan to change the boots or shoes on returning from a walk.

In the house, as I have said, woollen boots and shoes should always be worn, but the difficulty in wearing them out of doors is that they become saturated if the weather is wet. When the feet have thus become wet in bad weather the boots and shoes should be removed immediately on returning home, and the feet dried and rubbed well to promote circulation before dry coverings are put on them. As long as the circulation is kept up by walking, a chill is not likely to result from the feet being wet; but if we sit down to rest with wet feet, the consequences may be dangerous.

The plan of wearing very loose slippers in the house, a plan adopted by many men, is a very good one, especially in warm weather, as it leaves the feet free from pressure, and accessible to the outer air.

It may perhaps be thought that in proportion to the space devoted to other subjects I have given too long consideration to the clothing of the feet; but the matter is one of so great importance that I could have wished to say more about it, for I believe that if people only knew how much harm they are doing to themselves and their children by their general treatment of the feet they would at once adopt more rational principles. On all those who lament that painful feet, disinclination for exercise, and other affections such as I have