A PERFECT FOOT.

Grey River Argus, 11 June 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

A PERFECT FOOT.

The vanity of a pretty foot has spread wider than China. It has traversed the whole world. Half-naked savage girls have been found admiring their feet, and striving feigainsfc nature to keep , them from growing. In the so-called civilised world it is ] harder to forgive the mixture of silliness and sentimental affectation which made , a model of a tiny foot, and emulated the wicked processes by which much of its ', natural beauty was spoiled. Such silliness and affectation are "most incident to youth, and as one rarely sees a woman of 30 cramping her foot into a shoe too narrow and short, so in a society which is old enough to know the affectation of comfort, if it has it not, a small foot is not necessarily held to be a mark of beauty. The perfection one looks for in a sculptored foot is the lofty arch from .which spring the swelling toes, and a heel which is but the rounding out of the narrow ankle. What we demand of the sculptor, even more than the painter, is craftsmanship of the rare, immortal type. The foot may be the last thing an untaught observer, looks at when he i s brought suddenly face to face with a beautiful statue, but it is the first thing a brother artist, notices. Whoever is able to model a. hand and a foot, it is said in the studios, need have no fear for his success with the rest of the body. # Can a foot that has been injured by tight shoes be restored to its normal shape? In a good measure, yes. First of all, wear high buttoned or la.cc shoes as little as may be. Do without them altogether, if possible. Next, cut down the heels of snoes to a level with the sale worn under the ball of the foot. And again wear for a period of six months or a year a slipper or sandal that is a full inch wider across the toes than has been cystomaiy. A shoe may clasp the instep firmly, but it must give the toes ample room to spread. Last and most important, practise going without shoe or stocking for at least an hour a day. Baths of oatmeal water, tepid in temperature, gentle mosfeage, ana a generous use of talcum powder will bring the foot, provided this advice is followed, to a state which nature intended— that is, with a protecting surface -only where protection is needed, and with a skin in other places a$ soft and pink and pretty as the gentlest nurtured infant's.