The Republican journal., 1904-02-18
CONCERNING THE FIGURE.
TAKING CARE OF THE FORM BY PROP
Err EXERCISE, FEEDING AND DRESS
ING. CHOICE OF THE CORSET AND
THE CORRECT WAY TO WEAR IT.

1dE COKRECI WAY ~ WEAK IL.
BY CHRISTINE TERHUNE HERRICK,
Author of Cradle and Nursery" "First Aid
TO the Young Housekeepers,' '"Housekeep-
ing Made Easy" what to Eat" GIN City
Tents" Etc.
Copyright 1904, by Christine Terhune Herrick.l
There is no excuse for a woman's
having a poor figure. 1t may give her
some trouble to get good one but 1t is
worth the effort.
Some women begin life without
figures worthy of the name. While
they are young girls they are scraggy
and fiat, or lumpy and shapeless. These
peculiarities do not lessen with age and
when to their natural draw backs the
owners add utter careleSsnesS, it is NC
wonder if 10y the time they have reach
ed middle age they are trial to The
eyes of their friends
As matter of course, it is easier tC
let oneself go and not take the pains
that care of figure demands. But no
woman with the least particle of van
lty Ill her make up-and 1t Is very
Door sort of woman who lacks it-can
help feeling thrill of pleasure wien
she behoius the Improvement wrought
in her appearance by good corset,
properly worn.
For the corset is the first essential in
the making of the figure. A number OF
other things go with it. The woman
must carry herself properly, but the
corset helps her do that. She must pay
attention o her outer dress, and to this
700. the corset will stimulate her. Hell
diet canlIot be entirely neglected, il
she wishes to lfave her form reduced
from over stoutness OF redeemed from
ultra thinness, but with the corset as a
foundation for her efforts she will be
encouraged IN the work of regulating
her food.
Even in this day there are plenty of
people who find nothing bad enough to
say about the corset. | have seen one
matron give way to tears while address
ing a woman's club on the evils that
had been wrought by corsets. And she
was not a hysterical woman either.
She had known the corset as it was in
earlier years, before common sense and
science went to its making and she
knew tie harm it had done those who
regarded 1t as an instrument for the
compression of the waist Into smaller
compass than Nature had intended for
It,
The new corset-the straight 'front.'
with which fashion papers and comic
columns have made everyone familiar,
is built on a different plan. 1t does
not squeeze woman's organs out OF
shape, but holds them in place. AS
have said before, it must be properly
made and properly worn. The ideal
corset is one that is made to order and
adapted to the needs of the individual
body, but for those who cannot afford
this there are substitutes in plenty. A
woman should seek until she finds
what she wants.
The new corset increases the size OF
the waist line, thereby giving room fol
play of the lungs and diaphragm. There
is no difficulty in deep breathing with
the woman who wears well made cor
set of the present style. That is, il
she puts it on properly.
To do this she must loosen the laces
Gone are,-or should be,-the days
when woman kept her corsets laced
for days and weeks at atime. Now the
woman loosenS the laces at night and
tightens them in the morning. When
she puts on the corset it is so loose that
III UdiiSS upon Dtl llhG d DdS. oile CLAP
the carriers that are attached to the
front and, if she be of stout figure, to
the sides, settles the corset down over
her hips and abdomen, drawing a long,
deep breath after this is done, and then
proceeds to tighten the laces. She does
this carefully, drawing the lower ones
first and then those above the belt line.
Never must she make them too tight
for comfort. AS soon as she does this
she Injuries her figure as well as her
feelings. When the laceS are tight
enough, she should cross them in the
back, bring them to the front, pass
them under the garter on the left side
and tie them there.
The great advantage of thus tighten
ing the corset laces every day is that
the figure can be humoured. There are
days when woman feels that tight
corset is more than she can bear. Then
she leaves the laces loose at first, and
draws them up later in the day when
she has reached the point where little
closer compression will be grateful to
her.
/ can hear the protests of busy
women over the time it will take to 60
to this trouble. But it really takes
less time than one would think. AT
first, before one is accustomed to the
process, it may require few minutes
more than one has been in the habit OF
granting to ones toilet, but as the hab
90 1no 1n orcnt