Dear Sir,
May I trouble you once more to insert a letter in your paper on the subject of small waists?
As a firm advocate of tight-lacing, I have read with great interest all that you have already published on the subject. I quite agree with the sensible letter of “M.L.” and “An Admirer,” but I pity the ignorance of the subject shown by “Scot” and “K. E. J.” Both of the latter speak of the pain caused by tight-lacing, and “Scot” says that it induces dyspepsia and other complaints.
If they had had any experience of tight-lacing they would know that when properly carried out it is neither painful, nor does it cause any ill-effects to the health.
It is a strange thing that people who write against small waists always ignore the personal experiences of those who are in the habit of wearing tight corsets.
Provided that the waist is reduced gradually, tight-lacing will harm no one, and by beginning to wear corsets when quite young, and tightening them by degrees a girl can quite painlessly obtain an extremely small waist.
I am of the opinion that all mothers should take pains to train their daughters’ figures by making them begin to wear tight corsets from an early age, say when they are eight or nine years old, and little by little as they get accustomed to the sensation reducing the waist measurement.
Of course, I admit that if the waist is reduced very suddenly it may cause considerable discomfort. I heard of a case two or three years ago of a girl who did not begin to tight-lace till she was eighteen years of age (though she had worn corsets since she was fifteen), and whose waist then measured twenty-six inches. She reduced her waist to fifteen inches in two months, and in two months more she managed to get down to thirteen inches.
This was quick work, being a reductions of the waist to just half its former size in four months, and yet the only discomforts she experienced were a tendency to faint if she took much experience, an inability to eat much, and sleeplessness caused by wearing her corsets all night; doubtless, after a little while she would become quite comfortable again, but it proves my assertion that tight lacing to be a success and painless, must be gradual.
I think, contrary to the opinion expressed by your correspondent “K. E. J.,” that “M. L.” did quite right in reducing her waist to please her husband, and, according to her own statement, she has had no cause to regret her action. I am sure that every right-minded woman would willingly do the same thing.
A TIGHT LACER.