Here’s a cute little column from 1916.
It was published in December of that year, which explains part of the introduction. From a newspaper in Wisconsin, it was from a regular column called “Everyday Wisdom” By Don Herold.
BAREFOOTED GIRLS
Far be it from us, in this business, to hold over any summer ideas that come to us, just because it happens to be winter. This is a poor time of year, we know, to be talking about going barefooted.
We know girls that have never been barefooted in their lives.
Pity the girl that has never known the joys and hardships of going barefooted.
A girl that has never stumped her toe has missed something. And she cannot get it by going to Bryn Mawr later in her life. A girl who has never had a finger nail fight will have to go to college a long while to make up for it.
There is all the difference in the world between going barekneed and going barefooted. Bare knees are decorative. Bare feet are primal.
Pity the child who is raised in the city and who never goes bare below the calf, who has never stepped on a thorn, a sand-burr, a tin can, or a bottle, and who has never washed his or her feet in a washpan in the kitchen before going to bed.
A girl who has not gone barefooted in early childhood is apt to take up classic dancing along towards middle life—and that is no time to answer the call of the wild.
A wise man will not marry a girl without a scar on her foot.
> A wise man will not marry a girl without a scar on her foot.
Hear, hear!
That’s wonderful. I wish that attitude was still common.
Reblogged this on Barefoot Wandering and Writing and commented:
I really enjoy following “Ahcuah” . . . the author does a great job sharing research (often from 20th century newspaper archives) of how being barefoot has been portrayed in earlier times. This latest post from a 1916 column carries a timely message: how important it is for children (and, in this piece, specifically girls), to go barefoot.
One just can’t help loving this: “A wise man will not marry a girl without a scar on her foot.”