"Miss S., if I will tell you how to induce your shoemaker to make
the soles of your shoes as broad as your feet, will you try it?"
"I will, and should be very thankful for the suggestion."
"Go to him and say, 'Mr. Smith, please let me put my foot on a sheet
of paper, resting my whole weight upon one foot, and then, if you
please, mark around it with your pencil.'
"Of course he will do it very cheerfully. Indeed, for some purpose,
which I am sure no man can explain, shoemakers are quite in the
habit of taking the size and shape of the foot. I am sure I never
saw any evidence that they paid the slightest attention to it in
making the shoes.
"Then say to Mr. Smith, 'Please measure that and tell me just how
wide it is.'
"Mr. Smith measures. You look on. He finds that the width is exactly
three inches and seven-eighths.
"'But,' he will say, 'Miss S., what is all this for?'
"'No matter. Now, Mr. Smith, will you please to make the soles of
this pair as broad as my feet?'
"'Certainly, Miss S., I will make them all nice and broad.'
"'Mr. Smith, please make the soles as broad as my feet this time.'
"'Why, certainly, Miss, what is the trouble? I will give them to you
real nice and wide.'
"'You always tell me so; but when they come home, they are always
those little narrow ones.'
"'Miss S., you shouldn't say so. I always make the soles of my shoes
very broad. It will be all right.. You needn't worry about that.'
"'Well, Mr. Smith, you need not send these shoes to me; I will come
for them. The width of my foot is three inches and seven-eighths.
Very well; when I come for these shoes, I shall measure the width of
the soles; if they are one-eighth of an inch less than three inches
and seven-eighths, I will not touch them.'
"That struggle is all over. Mr. Smith will, for the first time in
his life, keep his broad-sole promise."