Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1886 — What Corsets Have Done. [ARTICLE]

What Corsets Have Done.

“Take off your corset!" I hear a howl of dismay. “O, we can’t live without corsets! We should fall to pieces!” ” X, Tcan’t hold myself up an hour without corsets!” “I always have such a pain in my side when I lay aside my corset!” My dear, do you see what a severe accursation you bring against this article yourselves? Wearing corsets has so enfeebled your muscles that they are no longer of use to you. If you had ever worn them your body, left to the laws of Him who made it, would have needed no support. I know one woman, about 60 years old, tall, stout, well developed, who has never worn corsets or heels, and whose flesh is firm and cool, needing no bones to keep it in position except her own. I suppose you cannot undo wholly what the years of idle, foolish fortune have done for you, but you can have a better fortune if you will begin now to live like rational beings. Go and buy some of those well-made, new-fash-ioned waists, with buttons to hold up your heavy, dragging skirts; but get them big enough so that you can draw the longest breath your squeezed and disabled lungs will allow after the waist is burst; so loose that you can lift your arm above your head easily; if your side or back aches, lie down; rub your flabby flesh every day with a rough cloth wrung out in salt and water; draw your breath in as far as you can, and breathe it out slowly as you can every time the clock strikes. — Rose Terry Cooke: .