s old and must be growing very fast, I
have decided to send you a corset. I hope you will like and
appreciate it enough to wear it.

Lovingly your friend,

Lizzie.

On receiving the package, Bessie looked at the corset and said, "Mama,
shall I wear it?"

Mrs. Worthington looked anxiously at her daughter; for she knew that
Bessie would have strong temptations along this line, as she did not
have a pretty form, and was growing rapidly. She had hoped, however,
that the subject would not be mentioned for some time. Silently she
breathed a little prayer for wisdom to answer the question, and then
said:

"Bessie, God used great wisdom in forming your body. He knew just what
shape it would have to be in order to perform its natural functions. Do
you think it would be proper to try to change it? Do you wonder why
something snug around your waist could be harmful? Listen, dear, and I
will tell you. Let us take the corset and examine it. It certainly looks
very innocent and pretty, but just see how stiff it is. These steel ribs
and this whalebone make it more like a piece of harness than anything
else I can think of. When worn about the waist, it produces pressure
upon the vital organs and thus deforms the body. These long strings at
the back are often drawn so tightly as to cause the misplacement and
derangement of those organs whose functions are most necessary to health
and happiness. As a consequence, many a woman has to suffer long years
of torture.

"Many women say they don't wear the corset tight, and think, therefore,
that no harm results; but, let one of them put a snug-fitting bandage on
any other part of the body, and she will see how quickly the muscles of
that part will weaken and decrease in size. Should a young woman who has
never worn a corset attempt to wear one about her waist as loosely as
they are ever worn, she would, if honest with herself, cast it aside as
an abominable thing.

"The reason why Lizzie wants you to begin wearing a corset while you're
young is that, if you'll bind your waist before you've reached your full
growth, your waist will never attain the size it would have attained
under natural conditions. In other words, you would be deformed."

"I don't think I shall ever wear it, Mama, if that's the effect it has
upon the body. If God takes such particular care of us that he numbers
our very hairs, he must be very much grieved to see any one put a corset
about her wa