In conclusion, Mr. Editor, I wish to ask if you would be kind enough to inform all those silly young ladies who are trying to kill themselves by tight-lacing, that if they were only to ride a pulling horse for an hour every day, or row a boat for the same time, they would find their muscles stronger and their waist smaller; in fact, they will find themselves improved in health, spirits, and appearance. Tell them not to mind if the sun burns their complexions whilst riding, or that the time rowing blinkers their hands; they can easily wear vials and gloves, but, as they value their lives, not to lace themselves tightly.
I think A YOUNG BARONET ought to be taken up for woman-slaughter, as I am sure, from what he said about more admiring small waist, a great many young ladies have burst plenty of stay laces in trying to make themselves the diminutive-waisted young ladies that ‘men admire.’ I am eighteen years old, and have never worn a tight pair of stays in my life; my height is five feet six, my chest is fifteen inches across, and my waist measures twenty inches.
Good gracious! I hope A YOUNG BARONET won’t read this— he might faint at such a dreadful thing as a twenty-inch waist. I have been accustomed to manly outdoor exercise all my life, such as riding, driving, swimming, rowing, and archery, and though I have been found fault with very often for being as fond of such of such ‘boyish pursuits,’ I have never given them up, and in consequence have never had a day’s ill health. I hope, dear Mr. Editor, that some of your readers will follow my example, and I am sure, if they do, they never regret it.