American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1869-10-23
The Wasp Waist.

1U0 lJOUuOl ETUWtHcT 10 UlStUS-
sing the "Nasp waist which it
doesn't like, and of which it says:
In ons direction, however, every
man who has got any sort of inilu-
encc over the women kind of his fam
lily or circle is impsrativcly bound to
interfere. The aOomlnauOB of tight
lacing must not be allowed to spread
among us. We are not quite sure
that fashion Coutemplates any I'M
mediate return to the wasp waist,
but there are ramOTs abroad which
render it necessary that every pre-
caution should be used. 1t may be
that the iliuginG open of the cores,
pondcnce columns of the newspapers
in the dull seasons has had some
thing to do with the appearance ut
this bngbear, but it is not the les.
necessary that such incipient tenta-
tiveS should be checked at once.
Somewhere about two years ago a
magazine, which is chiefly addressed
to girls, started, for its own purpose
doubtless, this subject, and endeav-
ored to combat the notion that tight
lacing was Injurious to the frame.
1t was suspected at the time that
| this periodical was nothing moreuor
ess than he organ Of the stayma
kers, who had been deprived OF their
means of subsistence by the eXtinc-
ton of criuoline. This underhand
effort to resuSciate a pernicious Gus
/ tom provoked a good deal OF iudig-
nation; and we fancy that it WAS
/ then abandoned. However, our Old
foe appears i'll "a new place and ii
the sacred columns of tho Times, the
spectre of tight iacIng is again para
died before us by one or two CORE
kpOndents, whose method OF logic i'll
CLUES us to believe that they belong
to tho sex which is principally inter
ested in the matter. The first point
upon which these correspondents in
siSt is that IA small waist is pleasing
to the eye, and the second is that
woman may "cultivate her fignren
such is the gentle enphemisn which
describes the squeezing in OF the ribs
with impunity from physical injury.
1t is true enough that small waist
is an additional grace to figure
that is otherwise symmetrical and
graceful. No one can deny this fact.
But there is no greater blunder than
for the " CultiyatOr' to imagine that
a small waist, which betrays All arti-
fetal organ, can be regarded by
men with anything else than deris-
ion or compassion. Isit wonder
or pity, or contempt that is predomi-
nant feeling when one observes a
wasp-like body taperiug down to an
abnornality snail waist, the waist
unnaturally round, the dress obvi-
OuSly strained, the whole body ap-
parently balanced SO as to prevent
The compressed figure from breaking
in two ha,vUss A more absurd spec
tacle it is impossible TO conceive; and
it was one which suggests some 9th
er reflections, not very tlattering to
the owner OF the insect waist. We
presume that girls make fools of
themselves in this way in order to
convey to others the notion that
they are peculiarly sylph like and
graceful. They wish to appear in
the eyes Of their male admirers Us
light, ethereal, angelic creatures,
who are scarcely subject to the vul.
gar necessity Of hunger. UnfOv:u,
nateIy, tie impression conveyed is
exactly tho reverse The lover can.
not look at his miStress's eyes fol
; thinking of her waist, and wonder.
lug how she can smile undar her
tightly clasping bars Of cane. In
spite OF himself, he becomes an
anatomlst. He mentally dissects
her. lie can not help thinking OF
, those plates III books of phynology
showing the position OF the IIbs ante
rior and pOsterior to the practice OF
tight laciug. While he ought TO he
looking at her face, he is in imagina.
ton, contemplating her lungs
When she signs, il is not of her aifec
ton he thinks; liza is considering the
action Of her diaphragm. 1t is i'm
possible for the tenderest and most
, idoaliStic OF lovers to discern the pc
, etIy of mechanical waist.