Page:Why the Shoe Pinches.djvu/39

 2. By taking measure by means of drawing the outline of the foot on a sheet of paper.

Both methods are quite insufficient, as may readily be proved.

The results arising from a very broad shoe, in which, in addition to a correspondingly wide upper-leather, the sole is made unusually broad in front, can only be clearly understood by reference to the adjoining woodcut. In this we have a straight sole without any pointing before; but even with a sole of this kind the great toe cannot find a place in its true position, that is to say, in the line a b. It still remains pressed obliquely outwards, passing indeed in the line c d. Slices of such a breadth of sole, which according to the current belief are faultless, are doubtless better, but are scarcely more suited to their purpose than shoes of the ordinary make. (Compare Figure 7, in which the line c d is likewise drawn, showing the position given to the great toe in the shoe.)

The second method, that of measuring the foot by drawing its outline on a sheet of paper, is especially clear to the shoemaker's mind, because his employer, by instructions given beforehand, has completely cut himself off from all ground of complaint. "The shoe is made