Dear Sir,–Some few years ago when I was in my late teens, I had a perfect mania for lacing myself into the tightest of corsets. I always had them made for myself specially and my corsetiere carried out my instructions and made my corsets with a very small waist.
Nothing gave me a greater thrill than to stand before a mirror and manipulate my corset laces till my waist was reduced to its smallest dimensions.
One evening, when I was engaged in the above-mentioned occupation my aunt, with whom I was living, came into my room and seeing that I was in some difficulty with my corset laces offered to lace me up and in a few minutes had done so, I had feared a lecture on the matter, so my aunt was not a tight-lacer and I was surprised to fund that nothing was said and that my corsets had been well laced absolutely close all the way up. My aunt assisted me several times in this matter, and I noticed she always laced me as tightly as my corsets would allow.
Some time after she asked me to attend a lecture with her. It was on hygienic, and in the course of the lecture we were shown the distortion of the body by tightening, the crushing of the ribs the indentation of the liver, the displacement of the stomach and other organs, together with details of various diseases caused or aggravated by wearing tight corsets.
The lecturer did not condemn the use of corsets, rather the contrary; but he vigorously rated those who abused them. On my return home I began to think that discretion might be the better part of vanity, and so I began by degrees to let my waist out. When my aunt found out what I was doing she confessed that she had deliberately laced me in as tightly as she could in order that when I heard the lecture it would have all the more effect. She had not wished to imposed her own views on tight-lacing on me, and was glad that I had taken the lecturer’s comments to heart, and congratulated me on my wearing more suitable corsets – in fact, I am more particular than ever regarding my corsets, but for every-day wear I am content with corsets which, when they are laced up, are only three inches less than my natural waist measurement, while, if I wish to feel smartened up, I go another inch; but this is my limit and even then my waist is four inches larger than when my aunt laced me into my limit.
Yours sincerely,
M.M.