Page:Why the Shoe Pinches.djvu/19

 It is quite clear that the foot must get inside the shoe, and if the shoe differ in shape from the foot, it is no less plain that the foot, being the more pliable, must of necessity adapt itself to the shape of the shoe. If, then, fashion prescribes an arbitrary form of shoe, she goes far beyond her province, and in reality arrogates to herself the right of determining the shape of the foot.

But the foot is a part of the body, and must not be changed by fashion; for our body is a gift, and its several parts are beautifully adapted for the purposes for which they were intended. If, therefore, we in any way change its normal form, not only do we not improve, but we actually disfigure it. Of this truth many a lady must be painfully aware who has not been able to resist the temptation to lace herself into what is called a "fine fissure " and he too must know it who has permitted his feet to be remodelled by fashionable boots.

"We do not indeed at first sight fully perceive the arrogant absurdity of which fashion is guilty in going so far as to determine the shape of our feet, because we are not alive to the fact that the case is peculiar to the feet. We only see it influencing the shape of the shoe, and come to the conclusion that it may regulate this as well as the cut of the coat. To this prevalent opinion we yield, regardless of the influence on the shape of the shoe, and thereby on the foot. As well indeed might Fashion one day come to the conclusion that fingers are inelegant, and