Wilbur Daniel Steele (1886–1970)

How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman. -- Solomon 7:1

I first read this remarkable short story in my high school AP English class. I fell in love with it then, and I come back to it from time to time, as I find it can still deliver an impact, even so many years later and with so much living between reads.

This is the kind of short story that almost demands multiple readings. So much is being said beneath the surface of the story, and Steele is able to plumb the souls of his characters so thoroughly in such a short space. Sometimes summing them up in one line:

It was like him to have cracked his whip above his animals' ears the moment before he pulled them to a halt.

Does that not reveal to you the baseness and thoroughly thoughtless character of the man described? Can you not see this brutish, coarse person?

I know Steele has written other short stories and at least one novel, all hard to come by, but I really need to try to find copies, because he has written in this tale one of the finest short stories of all time.

For anyone who might be interested in reading this, it can be found here: https://shortstories.fandom.com/wiki/How_Beautiful_with_Shoes
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