We will not deny the influence of this regenerating theory upon the
proprietor of the establishment _For The Regeneration of Footwear;_
but we must point out that this presumptuous legend was put up in token
of his defiance of the cobbler across the way, and we must register
likewise that it had been answered by another, and even more
presumptuous, one.
One fine morning the workmen in the establishment for _The
Regeneration of Footwear_ were dumfounded to find staring them in
the face the sign of the rival shop. It was a beautiful signboard about
two metres long, bearing this inscription:
_The Lion of the Shoemaker's Art_
This in itself was quite tolerable; the terrible, annihilating thing
about it was the painting that sprawled over the middle of the board.
A handsome yellow lion with the face of a man and with wavy mane,
standing erect; in his front paws he held a boot, apparently of
patent-leather. Beneath this representation was printed the following:
_You may break, but never unstitch it._
This was a crushing motto: A lion (wild beast) trying to unseam the
boot made by the Lion (shoemaker), and powerless before the task! What
a humiliation for the lion! What a triumph for the shoemaker! The
lion, in this case, was _For The Regeneration of Footwear,_
which, as the saying goes, had been compelled to bite the dust.
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