A WISE LAW ABOUT CORSETS.
In Rumania a wise Minister of Public Instruction has issued an order forbidding girls in the higher and secondary schools to wear corsets. If the girls insist on wearing corsets the law says that these garments shall be removed by force. It is sad, but not astounding, to learn that Rumanian girls are fighting against the law, and that their poor foolish mothers encourage them in opposing a sensible regulation. If any female needs to wear a corset it is certainly not the young, vigorous schoolgirl. As a matter of fact, the corset is based on purely barbarous ideas of good looks. It is the sister of the nose ring and other female abominations. The Rumanian Minister of Public Instruction shows good judgment in trying to apply the anti-corset law to YOUNG girls. For young girls better than older girls can give up the corset nuisance. When a woman has worn a corset ten or twenty or more years, it is difficult for her to give up the habit, because the wearing of corsets has caused some of her muscles to become atrophied and useless. If she gives up the corset she can hardly stand straight. Young girls, however, have no such excuse to offer for lacing. If they will let their natural muscles do the work of whalebone, steel and heavy canvas, they will be more comfortable, more healthy, and far better looking. We realize the fact that whoever argues with women about their dress must present for consideration some statements to show that the advice given involves additional beauty. The strongest argument against corsets for women, and we offer it now for the first time, is this: The corset really spoils a woman's figure, and even when she is comparatively young destroys much of her beauty. The most attractive thing about the human body is strength, compactness; lines clearly defined. The corset-wearing woman becomes inevitably flabby; there are no muscles to keep the flesh in place. Shapeless shoulders and stomachs, and general dilapidatedness are due to the wearing of corsets. If young women would of their own accord adopt the regulation of the Rumanian official, the human race would be infinitely better off one or two generations from now—and incidentally individual woman, as well as her descendants, would be more pleasing to look at and would enjoy life infinitely more.—S. F. Examiner.