Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/900

 874 SUOE Richard II. the points had increased to such an extent that they reached the knee, to which thjr were secured by chains of silver or gold. The upper parts were cut to imitate the win- dows of a church, and the whole was made ex- travagantly conspicuous. For three centuries the clergy, popes, and public officers sought in vain by declamations, bulls, and orders to break up the fashion. By act of parliament in 1463 shoemakers were prohibited from making for the "unprivileged classes" any shoes with points more than 2 in. long; and afterward excommunication was denounced against any person wearing such. The extravagant taste was then directed to the width of the toe, till at last Queen Mary was impelled to restrict this by proclamation to 6 in. In the 16th century shoes were made of elegant buff-colored Span- ish leather, with tops of enormous dimensions spreading over so widely as to obstruct the movement of the feet. The Puritans wore such boot tops, and after the restoration of Charles II. the French custom was introduced of ornamenting the upper edge with lace. The present simple form of- shoe was adopted in the early part of the 17th century, and in the lat- ter portion of the same the shoe buckle began to be used. During the succeeding century this continued to be very conspicuous, and so many were dependent upon its manufacture in England that, when it began to be unfashion- able in the commencement of the present cen- tury, the prince of Walels sought to keep up the custom for the sake of the buckle makers. Shoes worn by ladies in the last century were sometimes very elaborate and costly, made of bright-colored silk, ornamented with gold or silver stars and binding of different colored silks from tho shoe itself. Of all the diversi- ties of shoes worn by various nations, none are so strange and unnatural as tho slippers of the Chinese ladies of rank. From childhood the growth of their feet is checked by bandages at the cost of extreme suffering. They are thus enabled to wear shoes only 3 or 4 in. long, which are most unquestionable evidences of their high rank. The shoes are of silk beau- tifully embroidered with designs in gold and silver thread and colored silks. In European countries wooden shoes (Fr. saboti) are in very general use among the peasantry; they are cheap and durable, and, though clumsy, are said to be comfortable. In this country an attempt to manufacture wooden shoes was made on a large scale in 1863, but the market was found to be limited, and very few are now made. In the manufacture of shoes the highest perfection has been attained in the United States, due chiefly to the ingenuity and enterprise of tho mechanics of Massachusetts. In Lynn the making of women's shoes had been a prominent industry almost from its first settlement. The business was conducted by the families of the manufacturers, and with no especial skill until the settlement there in 1750 of a Welsh shoemaker named John Adam Dagyr. By his superior workmanship he ac- quired great fame in the trade, and materially improved the style of the work in that region. During the revolutionary war Massachusetts supplied great quantities of shoes for the army ; but soon after its close the business was seri- ously checked by large importations. In Lynn however it revived, so that in 1788 its exports of women's shoes were 100,000 pairs. In 1795 200 master workmen were employed there, besides 600 journeymen and apprentices ; and about 300,000 pairs of shoes were sent away, chiefly to southern markets. From the cities some were exported to Europe, and also direct from Lynn. The business continued stead- ily to increase, until it amounted in 1874 to a production estimated at about 11,000,000 pairs, of the total value of $14,000,000, and giving employment in the busy seasons to more than 10,000 operatives. The work is not con- tinuous, there being about three months of the year when most of the operatives are idle or engaged in other pursuits. The shoes pro- duced in Lynn are nearly all for women, miss- es, and children, the uppers of which are large- ly of lasting or serge, though a considerable quantity are of morocco, kid, and grain leather. Men's shoes are also made to some extent of calf and serge. Lynn work is distinctively known in the trade as embracing all the light- er grades to be found in the ordinary retail shoe stores, and it is made to sell at tho low- est prices for which a light and cheap shoe can be produced. It is all " sewed " work, and for the greater part the bottoms are put on by the McKay machine, which sews through the outsole, insole, and upper. All those not so bottomed are known as " turns," or shoes in the making of which the sole is attached with the shoe wrong side out, after which it is turned and lasted in finishing. A large portion of these shoes are made by hand, the work being done out of the shops in fami- lies in Lynn and vicinity ; but there are two well known machines, the Goodyear and the McKay, for sewing bottoms on " turn" shoes. Next in importance to Lynn, among the shoe manufacturing towns of Massachusetts, is Ha- verhill, where a generally better quality of shoes is made, including both sewed and pegged work of every kind. Next come Marblehead, Worcester, Marlboro, Milford, the Abingtons, Spencer, the Bridgewaters, Brockton, the Wey- mouths, North and South Braintree, Brook- field, Beverly, Medway, Randolph, Stoughton, Danvers, Quincy, and several other places. In Maine and New Hampshire there is also an important shoe manufacturing industry, which is principally carried on at Portland, Au- burn, and Lewiston, Me., and at Dover and Farmington, N. II. The business of buying the materials which enter into these goods and selling the productions is nearly all done in Boston, whose merchants are the principal owners of all the largest factories. There are no returns by which the exact production