Shoe Superstition
When you buy a pair of new shoes, never put them on a shelf higher than your head, unless you want to bring bad luck; and if you blacken them before you have had both shoes on, you may meet with an accident, or even have a sudden death. The Scotch girls believe that if they drop their shoes before they are worn, trouble will ensue, while a French lady losing her heel, is sure of some disappointment in love, and a German mother in the same predicament, feels that she will soon lose one of her children. You must not put your left shoes on your right foot, nor your right shoe on your left foot, not must you put your left shoe on before the right, unless want bad luck. This superstition dates back to one of the Emperors of Rome, who, it is recorded, put on his left shoe first one morning, and came near being assassinated during the day.
The Times-Picayune; October 29, 1904