The Washington times., 1904-10-30
MRS. HARRY LEHR.
! In Her Case the New Style Has Made
a Violent Change In Figure.


sink into your chair you begin TO get
red i'm the face Your belt line creeps
up. you gasp Tor breath. and unless you
Immediately rise 10 your feet, you grow
. faint.
Discomfort From Lacing.
''The laced waist is an right as long as
you stand. But you cannot sect y1ur-
self with any degree OF safety or COM
fort"
An old lady Who was a belle more
than nifty years aEo, auc VINO remem-
bers the trials and the tribulations Of
the beauties Of those DAYS mas this TO
say about the very smau belt line;
''It IS neat and il Is pretty and women
win adopt h. in these days, you cali fl
uuhygieuic But I'm my day they did
not know anything about hygiene. and
the bellies all laced and danced and were
healthy and happy
''Ay mother. who was q Virginia
beauty used to strap herself into her
/ corsets when she went out at night
well remember seeing her. Two slaves
assisted Boz the dressing. and IL was not
unusual FOR them 10 break haIf q dozen
corset strings before they got my
mother laced into her bodice. Then q
( leather belt was strapped around her
/
way- Not 0nly was her corset laced.
Z but her bodice also
81 remember further back than that
when j was r. girl. In those days a girl
would fling her corset strings across the
I bedpJst and them throwing herself for
ward would pull the strings as hard as
ever she could. one Of the most famous
+ beauties I'm Washington. seventy-fve
I years ago, was I'm the habit of Iacing her
/ cOTsets with rope, which was stronger
/ than cords. Another beauty used
clOthesliue.
Slept in COrsets.
.In the North. i'm those davs. the yo-
men taught their daughters TO keep
their waists small They had fewer ser
wants and mammies ana the girls were
/ coached Dy their own mothers. 1 re-
I member coming North when j was lit
/ tie EiiI ts see growu-up cousin.
MY cousin dressed for evening ana.
/ when it came 20 her corzets. she Law
/ face downward upon the noOr while her
mother pulled the strings tight 1T was
no unusual thing 10 see d mother NM
/ her FOOT upon her daughters back and
/ tug with AN HaT might at the two
strings When they had been pulled 10
/ their utmost. they were LghtIy tied and
/ the girl was lifted 10 her feet. rigid as ii
. teupiu.'
/ IL IS less than "a hundred years ago
I that growing girls were compelled to
/ sleep I'm corscts. AS soon as girl began
10 De plump around the waist line she
4 was put ia corsets, and these were kent
laced very tightly 10 prevent her waist
/ from spreading. The girl. if inclined to
/ ba fat, wore her corsets night as well
as day. and each day they were pulled
just q Little biz closer 20 allow for the
stretching of the material.
/ Iu the French court ira the DAYS OF the
Hast empire. there was great beauty.
named Nauon Hetzel She was partly
French and partly German This beauty.
whose eyes were big and black. ana
! whose neure was OF tHe slender TYNE
began. after days and nights OF feastins.
20 grow very stout. immediately she
.Uut on smaller C0Tsets. and. laciug them
/ very tightly declared that she would
/ never take them on
/ AadeuoiseIie Nantn slept in her
stays. and I'm the ul5rHing was taken
out Of them only 10 have another and
a tighter pair laced on. For months
she would never be without them. Al
last. iu spite OF ali, iesh overlook her.
and ia despair she left France to 20
back to Germany and hide herself
among the the bug om ladies Of the
court Of Berlin.
are the society W4men doing right 10
take up uEGt Iacug2
This iz "a question Y bieh society is ask