Wasp Waists.

A governess, writing to Health on " Wasp Waists," gives her experiences of tight-lacing. Here is a specimen : — " Miss , who was 'coming out ' about a month^after my arrival, was bent upon reducing the size of her waist to an inch less than that of a young lady whose figure was very much admired just then. Of course, to do this, new stays were necessary, as those she was then wearing were laced close. I went with her to the corset-maker with whom the family dealt. Miss ordered the coiweta t> be ' very strongly boned, and made long in shape.' Every woman knowa that long stays mean more pinching. In a few days the stays were sent home, and I was asked to assist the maid in putting them on. When they were fitted, the difficulty was to lace them close. They were two inches smaller than, the ones, she usually wore, At last they

were drawn close, ami my pupil was an inch less than her rivals — namely, fourteen inches. She fainted twice during the first day, and did hot go down at all, for she informed me, begging me not to tell any one, that she was 'in an agony of pain.' In about a fortnight, she began to feel insensible to the pinching, and, as for her mother, she was delighted." And after giving some more instances, she says : — (l I could give more instances, but your space will not permit. I believe there exist but two remedies : — l. The attacking of corset-wearing when young. A grown woman who ' laces ' will seldom give up the practice. 2. The adoption of a freer aud more sensible costume for girls. This last ought not to be a difficult matter. I cannot understand, I must confess, the opposition to the introduction of ' dual garments,' when many mothers let their daughters wear Buch short dresses that three or four inches of very pronounced, if prettily frilled knickerbockers are to be seen."