These, as furnished in the stores, are made of merino, but any clever woman should be able to cut them out of Canton flannel and make them at home. They must fit the legs moderately closely, and have a buttonhole at the top, so that when passed over the napkin they may be buttoned to the waist of the skirt on its inner side, and so be held up. These drawers are not readily soiled as they cover the legs only, and the napkin comes between. They must, of course, be made of material to suit the season - heavy in winter, light in summer. When stockings alone are used they must be long enough to come well above the knees, and should be held in position by "supporters" instead of garters, since the latter, being necessarily tight, bind the limbs, and often, by interfering with free circulation, cause cold feet. The supporter must be adjusted to make only the required amount of traction, and this always in a direction parallel with the axis of the body. The stocking foot ought to fit easily, but without wrinkling, and at the same time have a roomy and rounded rather than a conical-shaped toe. For although the silk, woolen, or cotton material of which the stocking is composed may be yielding, it is elastic, and consequently capable of exerting a certain amount of pressure upon the foot; and there is little doubt that the persistent compression made by a short, sharply conical point cramps the toes, crowds them together, and sometimes even forces them to overlap one another.

Fig. 12. - Drawers.

Colored stockings are often preferred to white, but they are only permissible provided the coloring matter be well fixed in the texture and not of such a nature as to cause irritation of the skin. Every stocking should be turned inside out, carefully examined, and all knots and ends removed, the smallest of which hurt the tender little feet, and stockings having seams to be pressed by the shoe into the back, soles or sides of the foot must be avoided. Were these details oftener looked to, many an unexplained tear would be avoided.

As with the drawers, so with the hose; several weights should be provided to correspond with the varying demands of.the season for greater or less warmth, and in both cases a sufficient supply must be kept to allow of frequent changing.

The shoes are prominent items of the clothing; their shape, size and manner of fastening, and the make-up of the soles being the important matters for consideration.

An infant's feet are plumper than those of the adult, and all the tissues, but especially the bones, are softer. They may be readily deformed by protracted pressure from badly constructed shoes, despite the assertions of unhandy shoemakers, who say that the feet are shapeless masses of fat, for which any leathern bag having the semblance of a shoe will serve as a covering.

Throwing out the element of fleshiness, the characteristics of the perfectly formed baby and adult foot do not materially differ. In the first place, the inner and outer margins are very different in contour; second, the heel and middle third of the foot is firm and presents little mobility in its component bones, whereas the anterior third, including the toes, is very mobile. The toes again bear much the same relation to the rest of the foot as the fingers to the hand. This is particularly noticeable in the great toe, which, instead of inclining toward a line passing along the center of the foot, points away from it, in the same manner as the thumb from the hand, although, of course, to a far less degree. An inclination of the great toe toward the mid-line of the foot is undoubtedly often seen in adults, but in them it is a deformity resulting from badly-made shoes, and one that gives a conical contour to the toes, cripples the movements of the great toe, and greatly interferes with the ease of walking, just as a contraction and permanent drawing of the thumb toward the palm of the hand would materially lessen the usefulness of that member.

The normal position of the toes just described will be readily understood from the tracing of the sole of the foot as shown in Fig. 13.

The most striking features of this diagram are, the expanded position of the toes; the width of the anterior part of the foot compared with the heel, and the straight outer and curved inner margins of the foot. The line AB represents the axis of walking, which, while nearly parallel to EF, the inner edge of the foot, forms quite an angle with CD, the center line.

In the normal foot the great toe is directly in the axis of walking, a position in which, of course, it is of much greater service than if it were inclined inward toward the line CD.

Now, if a line be drawn closely around the margin of the imprint, it will give the exact shape of a perfect shoe sole for the right foot; or taking the imprint of both feet, we get the outlines shown in Fig. 14.

Fig. 13. - Tracing of Normal Foot.

On first sight, one would suppose that a shoe with a sole so shaped would look very awkward, but when made by a skilful shoemaker, it differs very little in appearance from those ordinarily sold in the shop, with the exception that it is broader at the toes.

Another important fact is clearly demonstrated by Fig. 14, namely, the absolute necessity of having the shoes made "right" and "left," and the fallacy of supposing that one or the other shoe may be used on either foot indiscriminately.

Besides having a correct shape, the shoes should be long enough not to cramp the toes and bend them down and backward upon themselves. At the same time it is a mistake to have them too long, allowing the foot to slide back and forth, as this leads to the formation of either blisters or corns. Let the shoe fit snugly about the heel and instep, and easily at the toes, and all is well. I say easily at the toes, because many an otherwise good shoe is ruined by having the uppers at the points too scanty, so that the.toes are forced, against the sole and subjected to painful pressure.

Left Foot. Right Foot.

Fig. 14. - Shape of Proper Shoe Soles.