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CORRESPONDENCE.

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CLOSE LACING v. TIGHT LACING-HIGH

HEELS v. TIGHT BOOTS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE FAMILY DOCTOR.

SIR,--As it is a long time since you kindly printed a letter from me in your valuable journal, I hope you will allow me again to appear in your correspondence columns, as I have some more personal experience on the above subject that may be interesting to your readers. But first let me protest against the cruelty that seems to have been practiced on some of your correspondents by their parents or guardians in order to give them elegant figures. As a rule real pain is quite unnecessary, and girls should never be forced to endure it against their will; but I think they should be encouraged to lace tightly, and only be made to lace closely.

Close lacing may be defined as lacing that is easy and gives no pain, and but little inconvenience. Tight lacing is not only difficult, but gives great inconvenience and often pain. Some people enjoy pain of certain kinds-burning the mouth with hot pepper or pickles is a common form with men, and tight lacing a frequent form with women. Of the two the latter is preferable, as it gives pleasure to so many others, while the former is merely selfish. Still, I am no advocate of tight lacing, though I would not find fault with others for doing it; but I think a sufficiently elegant figure can be obtained by close lacing, only It should be continuous. I know this by experience. I have occasionally laced very tightly when I wished to be particularly snlal1, but I found if often painful, and letting oneself out afterwards undid much of the good to one's figure that the tight lacing had done. I, therefore, did what so many of your correspondents seem to have done, viz., sleep in 15tays. I find like" The Mother of Three Daughters" that it is best to have sleeping stays very flexible and cut low; all one desires is not to let the body expand. In this way I have reduced my waist to a very elegant shape, though not to the tiny size mentioned in your early numbers of last year of Bella and Mabel M., or Bertha G., "the child martyr," and many young ladies will be horified when I say that I am 18 inches, and sometimes 19 inches, and yet I find myself smaller than most ladies I see. Many of your correspondents give the size of their stays as the size of their waists, and even talk of lacing into 15 inches in 15-inch stays. This is impossible, as 15-inch stays would not give a smaller waist than 16 inches. I once laced myself into 17 inches, but it required strong stays of only 15½ inches to do it. I never do so now, as my intended husband is quite satisfied with my present size. He is a constant reader of the FAMILY DOCTOR, and always looks forward every Wednesday for more correspondence on tight lacing and high heels. He was very pleased at the sensible letter from Dr. Haughton in your issue of December 15th, and if I get out of health I shall certainly go to him, as he will not be rude as some doctors are about wearing stays. He often laughingly says that I caught him by my little waist and dainty feet. He has known me for fourteen years, ever since I was a little girl, so we know each other's characters pretty well. I never looked upon him as a likely husband, though I always liked him, and he never thought of marrying at all till he noticed how, after some chance observations of his, my waist and feet appeared to get so much smaller. We are to be married next spring, and I intend to be very well set up on that occasion, particularly in the n1atter of foot gear.

Since my letter, published on April 14th, I have made some advance in the appearance of my feet. To begin with I may mention that I never wear tight boots, though I would like to as they are pretty, but they give me soft corns; nor are my feet very small though they look so. This effect is produced entirely by wearing very high heels, with interior corks 1½ inches high, as mentioned by "Sex" in your issue of December 8th last. I have gradually got accustolued, by wearing heels made a little higher each time, to walking well and easily on very high heels. I have now none less than 4 inches, and all newer boots and shoes have heels 4½ to 5 inches high; in all cases It inches is inside, and the height is measured upright at the hack with a foot rule. These heights I wear comfortably out of doors, though I have my skirts made long so as not to be conspicuous. I find 5 inches still rather high for quick walking, but with heels of 4½ inches I get along very fast, and 4 inches are uncomfortably low. I only wear them in wet or muddy weather, when I am obliged to hold my dress high. With 5-inch heels my feet look wonderfully small, though the boots are quite easy and comfortable, and I intend all future boots and shoes to have heels as high. The heels are Louis XV. shape, very slender, and built up entirely of leather, not of wood, except for evening wear. Since I have got the right shape of boot, my corns give me no trouble. It is badly-shaped boots, not high heels, that give corns, though if a particular shaped boot gives corns, a high heel added will n1ake them worse. For indoor wear only I have now a pair of boots with 6-inch heels. These would be too conspicuous to wear in the street, even though 2 inches is inside, but wearing them indoors makes walking on 5 inches out of doors much easier. I often wear the 6-inch heels the whole day in the house, and have become so used to them that I often forget I have them on and am on the point of going out in them. I aln naturally rather below the middle height, but I now have the advantage of being actually above. I have promised my intended that when we are married I will never wear heels less than 5 inches, and alway 6 inches indoors. In this matter, though I have become almost excessive, permit me to sign myself as MODERATION.

Kensington, 7th Jan., 1889.

from Moderation

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