Observe the extra fatigue which is insured to every woman in merely carrying a tray upstairs, from the skirts of the dress.  Ask any young women who are studying to pass examinations whether they do not find loose clothes a sine qua non while poring over their books, and then realize the harm we are doing ourselves and the race by habitually lowering our powers of life and energy in such a manner.  As a matter of fact it is doubtful whether any persons have ever been found who would say that their stays were at all tight; and, indeed, by a muscular contraction they can apparently prove that they are not so by moving them about on themselves, and thus probably believe what they say.  That they are in error all the same they can easily assure themselves by first measuring round the waist outside the stays; then take them off, let them measure while they take a deep breath, with the tape merely laid on the body as if measuring for the quantity of braid to go round a dress, and mark the result.  The injury done by stays is so entirely internal that it is not strange that the maladies caused by wearing them should be attributed to every reason under the sun except the true one, which is, briefly, that all the internal organs, being by them displaced, are doing their work imperfectly and under the least advantageous conditions:  and are, therefore, exactly in the state most favorable to the development of disease, whether hereditary or otherwise.—­Macmillan’s Magazine.

TO MAKE THE SLEEVES.

As to sleeves.  Measure from the shoulder to the elbow and again from elbow to the wrist.  Lay these measurements on any sleeve patterns you may have, and lengthen and shorten accordingly.  The sleeve is cut in two pieces, the top of the arm and the under part, which is about an inch narrower than the outside.  In joining the two together, if the sleeve is at all tight, the upper part is slightly fulled to the lower at the elbow.  The sleeve is sewn to the armhole with no cordings now, and the front seam should be about two inches in front of the bodice.

Bodices are now worn very tight-fitting, and the French stretch the material well on the cross before beginning to cut out, and in cutting allow the lining to be slightly pulled, so that when on, the outside stretches to it and insures a better fit.  An experienced eye can tell a French-cut bodice at once, the front side pieces being always on the cross.  In dress cutting and fitting, as in everything else, there are failures and discouragements, but practice overrules these little matters, and “trying again” brings a sure reward in success.