Why couldn't you? When they were first available, many women ordered them from the Sears catalog and taught themselves how to use it. The most improtant tip, I think is not to bend/flex your foot to treadle. To first start, give the hand wheel a spin in the direction you want to sew to get the foot rhythm started.You rest your dominant foot on the back corner and the toe of the opposite foot at the front of the shelf. Once you get her going it only needs a gentle push to keep going.
My Singer treadle has the little rubber wheel on the right hand side of the machine that tips towards the hand wheel to fill the shuttle bobbins. You put the long bobbin into the brass things and thread the thread from the spool, down the hook area and hold it with the fingers when you start to fill the bobbin. The rubber wheel thingy tips towards the hand wheel to fill the bobbin, you loosen the silver knob on the hand wheel so the the needle doesn't go up and down while you fill the bobbin. When the bobbin is full, tip the rubber thingy away from the hand wheel and retighten the silver knob to activate the needle again. If you don't have this on your machine. Nevermind!