Page:Why the Shoe Pinches.djvu/18

 combinations of upper leather and sole are called boots, shoes, etc.

A shoe, then, has to afford protection against unequal and rough ground, as well as against cold and wet. This is the object of a covering for the feet.

A covering for the foot has, however, to fulfil this object in a manner that will give rise to no disadvantage, the existence of which would essentially diminish the benefits of protection. The remedy would in this case be worse than the evil. Here, however, Fashion, so unfortunately mixed up in all our clothing-relations, steps in and must even have her say on the shape of the shoe. So long as the influence of fashion is confined to the cut and amplitude of the coat, the form and colour of the hat, and the like, the only harm that accrues is the probable production of a somewhat ludicrous effect. It signifies little, so far as health is concerned, whether a man wears a gray coat or a brown one, but it is of some importance whether the shoes he wears be broad or narrow, rounded or pointed, long or short. The shape of the shoe has too much influence on health and comfort to be left to the dictates of fashion.

The influence of fashion on the shape of the shoe produces the most baneful effects on the mechanism of the foot and on its soundness, and thus materially affects our moving about, and our consequent ability to take a sufficient amount of open-air exercise.