Page 369 - Wordsmith A Guide to College Writing

considered more beautiful than the foot as nature
created it.

The most horrible aspect of this ancient custom is that it

deprived these supposedly privileged women of

freedom. They never knew the childish pleasure of

stomping through piles of crackling leaves just to hear
the noise they made. As young women, they did not

dance to the music of a lute under the full moon or romp

through a sunlit garden with their dogs and children. It is

doubtful that these women so much as walked to the

kitchen for almond cookies and tea. As women of

privilege, they were brought whatever they needed and
were carried by servants wherever they wanted to go. If

they were independent-minded women, if they would

have preferred to range over the hills alone or to wander

so far along a dry creek bed that they could no longer

hear the bickering of servants or the shouting of children,
it did not matter. They were carried, or they did not go.

As I reflected on that bitter bygone custom, I suddenly

needed to feel my feet under me. My walk to the kitchen

for the oatmeal raisin cookies was slow and painful, but I
was thankful to walk on feet that would again dance,

again hurry me forward on matters of no particular

urgency, again run for joy. The cookies were plump and

packed with raisins. I savored every bite.