St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-09
Tight Lacing Is No Longer in
General Practice Among
the Ladies',
But Stays Are More Gener-
ally Worn Than Ever
Before.
Red Noses and Fat Always Re-
suit From Very Tight
COrSetS.
The New York Woman'S Trim
Figure--The Boston Wom-
ans Indifference.

The habit of tight lacing is indeed
falling into desuetude; not, however,
from conscientious scruples on the part
of women as to any injurious effects the
practice may have upon ones physical
or psychical being, or may transmit to
the deuriment of their descendants.
No; reformers may rant and physicians
croak, Delsartian goddesses and liter
airy queens pose in unconfined Grecian
draperies, and. matinee dress revivals
flourish where uncorseted eXhorters and
evangelists in divided petticoats picture
to the unregenerate the present deprav-
ity and ultimate degradation, both
moral and physical, resulting from
boned bodlces and laced stays.
Occasionally susceptible wom-
an, laboring under very strong
conviction that she has really
met with the desired change of heart,
goes about for week IN health waist
and supported by right eeusness instead
of steels; but the attack is spasmodic
and transitory. When the excitement
is over and she finds that she is growing
a fraction of an inch larger about the
waist, she returns to the world, the
f1esh," and so forth, and laces herself
more tightly than before. When" as
a quaint little dealer in corSetS eX-
presses it, "a woman is getting too
much complexion on her nose, just
where she doesn't want it, and too
much development upon her abdomen,
just where she abominates it--all
through tight laciDg-then. and not till
then, will. she let out her corsets and
wear them as she should. You see, the
philosophy of it is this: Tight cor
sets produce just the internal de-
engagements which result in undue red
ness of the nose, and, besides, they re-
tard the circulation. Anything which
tends to send the blood to the head i'll
undue quantities affects the circulation
of the face, and the nose, being the
most prominent member, is the first to
hang out the danger signal to the dis
treSs of its owner. The multitudiDOuS
and infinitesimal veins and cells, dis
tended in an unnatural manner the
greater part of the time, ultimately go
out Oh a strike with the unreasonable
to perform their work of contraction
even when all obstacles are removed
and hours are shortened to their liking,
and this results in a permanently glow
ing member causing great annoyance
and vexation. OF course in feshy
nose the result is most disas-
trous, as the circulation is more
apparent, while if the feature is
cartiIaginouS there is little or no blood
circulation and the effect is not palpa-
BILE and distressing. There is nothing
which really harrows the soul of a
pretty woman so much as an old rose
tinted nasal member, and the time and
fuss she devotes to its decoration with
powder would, if given to any other
speciality in art, rank her with the An
gelos and Raphaels of history. To be
sure, she is rather of an impressioniSt
aSm, her energy, her SingleneSS OF pur-
pose, that would bring her glory.
Gas for the superabundance of flesh,"
she added, .'every one understands how
corsets encourage it's accumulation and
then deposit it in most undesirable
places. The digestive forces, all thr own
out of order by corset pressure, in cha
otto, undisciplined confusion. cannot
perform their functions successfully.
Like a crowded army, they serve
| to work their own destruction
only. Lack of digestion means
lack of assimilation, and lack of
assimilation means fat. You may call
it what you wiIl-embonpoint, obesity,
corpuIence is only fat after all, per-
meated with depravity, obstinacy and
determination. A woman fights it in
vain with frightened girdle. She may
keep her waist measure at certain
figure by hauling herself up on a hori-
zOntal bar while she laces her corSetS,
and never breathing again until she
takes them off, but the legions of the
fat demon pile it on with spade and
troWeI above and below the corset bar
rief.
'sFor many years handsome figure
signified OnIy pretty waist BodiceS
were not fitted so tightly, and skirts
with crinolines, offenders, panniers,
bustles and draperies concealed the fig
ure below the waist completely. But
now, when fashion has taken from her
deformed devotees every dear disguise
and friendly curtain, exposing them to
the heartless world in dresses as cling
| ing as riding skirts, fitted as closely
about the hips as the sheath to its sa-
Der, scarcely more reserved than the
ballet girls tarletan, now it is that
women are learning that tight lacing,
resulting in wasp waists and dispropor-
tionate abdOmenS, is not conducive to
beauty.
II could tell you great many more
evils resulting from corset wearing and
tight lacing," concluded the philosoph-
ical little woman, "but it's no use
writing them. Women will only skip
them as they read. Yon see, Pve been
in the business long time, first with
regular corsets, now with these waists.
| remember that the pretty young girls
who used to insist OH my pulling up
their corsets until the new laces
snapped like threads came back to me
in ten years with sallOW skins, pale lips
and dull eyes. Liver gets ali wrong.
wrong everything is in a jaundiced
condition. Marriage is failure and
life is a burden, and heaven is myth.
I know lady who will admit, now
that she has really reformed, that
three weeks of tight lacing will
thicken her skin like piece of parcf-
ment, and make her believe that her
husband is in love with some one else,
her cook steals the sugar, her diamonds
are paste and her baby is going to die if
it cries with wind on it's stomach. l
could tell you. too, of the girls Oculists
send here because the wearing of tight
corsets has affected their eyesIght. l
don't quite understand how, but it
QOeSQ Z SlgHl1y. NO Uuo VIII DelltFt III.
If you really want to cure woman of
tight lacing. just persuade her to keep
the measure of her abdomen on the
same paper with her waist measure, and
to watch her shoulder blades and the
tip of her nose. Why, sometimes their
shoulder blades get crowded up and
stick ont like rudimentary wings, and
they aren't pretty with evening
dresses"
'.There is comparatively little tight
| lacing now" said the corsetierre in one
of the large shops, ''but l think it is
less the influence of the reformers than
the cut of the corsets, which obviates
| the necessity of tightness by giving
women the appearance of having long
and slender waist without lacing. Then
the scantiness of dress skirts reveals
the figure so decidedly that many
women are being fitted to larger corsets
about the waist to bring its slenderness
into proportion with the size about the
hips. Frequently woman expands
her lungs with loEg, full breath, and
tells us TO fit over that, and all from the
o,Jo,. of bor dyoccr, q Dor yybn ipcictc on