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Hawkeye Memories

If you're over 60, it's a fair guess that you are familiar with the classic "whalebone" corset once worn by most women to achieve the hourglass figure that was in vogue so many years ago.

As children back then, we discussed corsets--their size, shape, and purpose--as they hung on the outdoor clothesline sans the whalebone or metal stays. I remember that being hugged by a mother wearing a corset was similar to being wrapped in a picket fence.

Because younger females had not taken to wearing them, I thought going away to college would preclude any further chance at "corset mania," but soon after my college career started, I had a very unhappy experience with the old corset villain. It happened during my job "working for meals" at the University Hospital.

Two of us students checked all the restrooms daily and replenished the paper and soap supplies. Included were two restrooms off the large main entrance visitors' waiting room with "Ladies" on one side and "Men" on the other. The facilities were very small and the commode was right in front of the entrance door, which opened outward directly onto the waiting room. A very large sign on the inside wall advised the occupant to "Lock Door Before Using."

We took turns servicing the women's restroom because the waiting room full of visitors watched askance as this college kid approached the "ladies' sanitary." It was my turn on this particular night, and the waiting room was full as I sped up to the Ladies door, knocked once, tried the door handle (the door was not locked), and yanked the door open.

Evidently, when I knocked, the buxom lady sitting on the commode with her corset down around her knees, grabbed the door handle. My yank jerked her off the stool, out the door, and onto the highly waxed floor of the waiting room, where she spun on her back halfway across the room. When she stopped "mooning" her stunned audience, she scrambled to her hands and knees and back into the restroom. I fled the room amidst shocked muttering from the visitors.

I fully expected to be fired as the result of this unfortunate experience, but I wasn't, and I don't believe anyone reported the incident to the hospital authorities; however, I can assure you of three things:

a. Thereafter, we approached the Ladies restroom with extreme caution.
b. I have not seen a classic corset since.
c. I don't want to see one ever again.

 

Lloyd "Red" Cassell, 34BSC
Williamsburg, VA

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