Auf http://jerickweb.50webs.com/goodlife/Ba ... iving.html sind einige Argumente über die Vorteile des Barfusslaufens zu finden, unter anderm auch geschichten von früher. Da findet sich z.b.:
American boys thought it was "tough" or "manly" for a boy to go barefoot as much as possible. According to the autobiography of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain):
... a boy who didn't go barefooted, or wore shoes when it was not absolutely necessary, was viewed as a "Miss Nelly". The unfortunate lad being an object of complete derision among my companions.
Thus going barefoot for rural and working-class boys and girls was not necessarily associated with poverty in 19th century America. This varied substantially from Europe where the lack of shoes was considered a sign of poverty.
Attitudes toward going barefoot vary greatly from country to country. In some countries it meant virile, healthy boyhood and freedom from uncomfortable shoes. Outlooks varied greatly among countries. One of the factors of course is climate. There is ample evidence that 19th century American youngsters would go barefooted out of "choice" rather than "necessity". In a D. B. Taylor sketch, "Unfledged Johnnys" from "Through the Valley with Sheridan-1864", made in late summer, 1864, in the northern Shanandoah Valley of Virginia, we can see that two of the three boys are barefooted. Yet all three are dressed in good quality clothing, lacking any sign of dilapidation. One boy is, in fact, wearing an "adult" coordinated sack suit of horizontally striped cloth (probably wool/cotton "jeans" cloth). The other boys are wearing either short "roundabout" jackets, or sack coats. There is no evidence of any raggedness or poverty.
und auch
We'd run through mud puddles, and most everything else. Black, nicked-up soles were a badge of honor, and we'd give a hard time to any kid who backed-off of any activity that would show him to be a "tenderfoot". Our feet picked up many splinters and thorns, even some rusty nails. But parents in our parts knew what to do: a needle and the bottle of turpentine would be at the ready when mom noticed the damage (the remedy hurt worse than the injury). Sometimes if the cut foot didn't heal quickly, mom would put a poultice of salt and lard on it and wrapped it with rags from an old sheet. Bee stings and chiggers got treated with kerosene. With time, one develops an intuition for what surfaces to avoid. Mistakes wash off easily - the hardy skin of the sole naturally resists the embedding of residue.
On chilly mornings in the spring or autumn, we kids were sent to fetch the cows from the pasture fields. If one of them was lying down, we got her up and stood in that warm spot for a few moments to warm our feet. On early spring mornings we kids had the job to "watch the cows" as they ate the fresh grass on the open roadsides. When our feet got very cold we would stand in any pile of warm cow flop we could find. We didn't all know about hookworms, but our elders did as they passed along their knowledge of disinfecting our feet by the economical and practical method of applying our own urine to our feet at the end of the day. Sounds strange today, but it worked - at least none of us had problems with worms or infections.
Mornings - even in the winter - we crawled from bed and ran as fast as possible through rain, snow, ice (and anything else that was out there), to the outhouse in the back yard. With our feet on the cold ground, and cold wooden slats against our backsides, we didn't linger in there for long! If any of us complained, we were always told that the cold was good for the feet. I believe it. We all had tough soles that could put up with anything nature could throw at us.