f wearing stays!

"The corsets which so aroused his ire were quite different from those
of the present day. At that time, you must know, the Empire dress,
that you have seen in portraits of the time of the first Napoleon, was
all the fashion; no crinoline, skirts so extremely scant and gored that
they clung to the figure like drapery upon a statue, and waists a
finger and a half in depth, with inch-wide bands instead of sleeves.
This style of dress was very graceful and becoming when worn by a woman
of slender figure, and those who were not thus favored by Nature made
the best of their figures by wearing what was then called 'busks,' or
more popularly 'boards.' The corsets worn in those days did not clasp
in front, but merely laced behind, and inserted in the lining of the
front was the 'busk,' a piece of steel, or (among poorer people) wood
two inches wide, and the depth of the corset. This busk, with the
addition of very tightly drawn lacing-strings, was supposed to give
great symmetry to the figure. No village belle ever liked to own that
she laced tightly, or that she wore a board; as it was a tacit
admission that her figure could not bear unaided the test of the Empire
dress; consequently brother's remarks would be received by his young
friends with an injured air, and a vehement protest against such a
false accusation. Brother would then test their truth by dropping his
handkerchief and requesting them to pick it up; if they 'wore a board,'
stooping would be impossible, or, at all events, very difficult; an
ordeal that would cover them with confusion, when the philosopher of
thirteen years old would resume his moral lecture upon the laws of
hygiene, and the follies of fashion."

CHAPTER XIV.

The Morning Mail--A letter to Mrs. Cleveland--Strange Contents--Ida's
Letter Bag--Appeals for Money, for Clothing, and for her Hand--An
Original Letter from a Trapper.

_July 13_.

Going to the post-office for the morning mail is, I think, our greatest
daily pleasure. For some reason, we seldom have many letters by our
second mail, the 6.30 P.M. train, but in the morning our box is always
well filled, for we receive regularly the dear daily _Tribune_, six
weekly journals, and the leading magazines, and as we all have quite a
number of correspondents, we feel deeply aggrieved if our box is not
filled to repletion at least _once_ a day.

Ida, of course, is blessed with the greatest number of letters in the