feel awfully smart, and, in fact rather a pleasant sensation when you get used to the pulling in. Three letters form a thread that illustrates the volleying back and forth. The first was written by a mother, surprised that the school acted on its own. The daughter herself continued the account. Rather than deplore the practice, her remarkable conclusion was that tight lacing should be started at an early age. A woman signing herself as a schoolmistress defended the practice as an "elegant article of dress". Her solution agreed with that of the young lady, commencing the practice at an early age. One young lady looked back upon the practice with affection. Today, one might read these accounts with skepticism, but contemporary advertisements describe corsets as small as 15 inches. That tight-lacing was enjoyable is a recurring theme. For example: Others were proud of their training and saw it as the source of a fine accomplishment; However, other young ladies recalled the practice with little fondness. Marriage There are many articles admonishing girls to abjure the custom of tight lacing and assuring them that no man they would want to marry had any interest in small waists. Typical of these is: Another, entitled "The Absurdity of the Custom as Well as the Effect upon the Health of Slaves to the Fashion", begins: Other articles suggested more dire consequences. A "Doctor Lewis" wrote Whatever the doctors might say, young ladies would lace down in preparation for their wedding, as evidenced by contemporary photographs. Moreover, some women laced down after their marriage to please husbands who fancied the practice. One such wife wrote: These, with the assistance of my maid, I put on, and managed the first day to lace my waist in to eighteen inches. A ladies maid recounted a similar situation: A husband who fancied the practice wrote: Fashion establishments Girls working in "fashion establishments", as they were then called, wore corsets to suit the dictates of their employers. Tiny waists were required of employees to sell the then current fashions, much as size zero models are frequently used in fashion shows today. The editor of "The Ladies Page" of The Western Mail wrote In a large establishment in the West End of London the standard is 19 inches, and any assistant who does not reach those dimensions within six months of her engagement is discharged. The person in charge