by Roxy Triebel
treebz65@hotmail.com

Back in the days when my Mother (Bertha (Barringer) Van Kleeck) was a young lady, it was the fashion for the young ladies to "lace" themselves very tightly with corsets - the aim, to have a waist that could be spanned with the two hands; and regardless of how large a waist some of them actually had, they would try for that measure.

Mother used to tell of her cousin, Cindy (Lucinda Every who married Hewitt Van Kleeck).  She was a small person, but insisted on lacing herself to, and beyond, the limit.  She would loop the corset strings around the bed-post and pull them as tightly as possible.  One Sunday when Cindy and Mother and a group of young folks were walking home from Church - it was an extremely hot day - Cindy fainted.  All the folks gathered around and tried various remedies, but Cindy didn't respond.  Finally, the young man that was her escort that day, asked the folks to please step back and let him see what he could do -- he pulled out his pocket knife and reached under her shirt waist (blouse) and cut the corset strings.  Bystanders thought he had shot her - it sounded like a gun shot.  A very angry and embarassed Cindy regained consciousness.

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