L. THOMPSON says – “No one will grudge the young lady herself any sympathy she may claim for the torture she has submitted to, but so far from her case being condemnatory of stays, it is the reverse, for she candidly admits that she does not suffer ill health. Now such a case as hers is the exception, and the stout young lady spoken of by NORA is also an exception, for it is seldom that girls are allowed to attain the age of fourteen of fifteen before commencing stays. The great secret is to begin their use as early as possible, and no such severe compression will be requisite. It seems absurd to allow the waist to grow large and clumsy, and then to reduce it again to more elegant proportions by means which must at first be more or less productive of inconvenience. There is no article of civilized dress which when first begun to be worn does not feel uncomfortable for a time to those who have never worn it before. The barefooted Highland lassie carries her shoes to the town, puts them on her arrival and discards them again directly she leaves the centre of civilization. A hat or a coat would be at first insupportable to the men of many nations, and we all know how soon the African belle threw aside the crinoline she had been induced to purchase. But surely, no one would argue against these necessary articles of dress merely on the ground of inconvenience to the wearer, for however, uncomfortable they may be at first, it astonishes how soon that feeling goes off and how indispensable they become. My opinion is that stays should always be made to order and not be of too flimsy a construction.”