Dear Sir,–Having always admired an unnaturally small waist, my wife naturally did her best to please me in this respect until one day she showed signs of discomfort whereupon I decided that it would only be fair if tried experiment on myself.
I submitted to be laced in proportionately for a reasonable period and with every due allowance for a wearer’s subdued susceptibility born of the figure training exercise since youth I had to come to the conclusion that tight-lacing resulting in abnormal reduction in waist dimension cannot be indulged without undue discomfort and even pain.
However pleasing to the eye the curves resulting from the treatment might appear I became convinced that the end did not justify the sacrifice. Having said that, however, I must in all fairness add that I would not advocate going to the other extreme. On the contrary, I think the wearing of corsets by both sexes in moderation is attended by results which should commend it as a universal practice.
Undoubtedly they serve to sustain the figure from losing its shapeliness by a gentle reminder of its presence and its need for conformity to a standard universally acknowledged as desirable whist when the resting hours have arrived the release from the slight restraint is all the more welcome and beneficial by virtue of the law of compensation.
I am inclined to think also that any tendency to over-indulge in food, due allowance for the demands of our climate having been made, which is noticeable in our countrymen would be checked thereby.