roperly and have your shoulders
stooped--at least you cannot make such a combination without a mighty
big lot of discomfort. If you breathe as you should you will develop
the chest and bust, give better lines to the shoulders and--unless you
are naturally inclined to be plump and rotund--will make your waist
become round and slender and pretty. If you doubt this, try for
yourself and see.

I wish that I could impress my readers with the fact that improper
breathing brings many ills. Breathing is a highly important function,
and bad breathing not only produces symptoms of consumption, but makes
the waist unduly large. The reason for this is that holding the chest
up will keep all the internal organs in their proper places, and so not
allow them to spread the waist in the unsightly way that usually
denotes deficient vitality instead of the "Greek health" upon which
physicians are wont to dilate. Good breathing strengthens muscles and
makes the flesh firm. The reward is a perfect, round, slender figure
and a trim waist.

Begin your breathing lessons in the morning just after getting out of
bed, when you will have no tight skirts or bands to hinder the full
expansion of the lungs. Raise every window and get all of God's blessed
air that you can, and, above all things, let not this practice cease
when the winds of winter blow as if from Greenland's icy mountains. The
breathing exercise is all the better then. Place your hands on your
hips and walk slowly across the room, your chest held upward and
outward, and every breath coming deeply from the abdomen. After three
trips you will find yourself pretty well tired out. Rest for a few
moments and try again. The next morning make the exercises longer, and
as soon as the muscles that hold your chest up become firm and strong
there will be little exhaustion. Vary the exercise by standing still,
taking as long a breath as possible and holding it for several seconds.
This practice, indulged in for five or ten minutes every day, is most
beneficial. But the main motive in all breathing exercises is to get
into the habit of standing straight with the shoulders held back and
the chest up. "Play" that you are trying to make your chest creep up
and touch your chin.

One of the greatest injuries that come from wearing tightly laced
corsets is the compression of the ribs. The unyielding steel and
buckram will not permit a variation in the waist measure as a deep
breath is inhaled or exp