And So to Bed

The daughter is secretly glad to be wearing the arm sheaths rather than the mono-glove as the mono-glove only allowed her to 'sleep' or, more truly, lie and suffer on one side. As her arms were pinioned behind her, it did not allow her to turn over and so move to a different position to relieve the pressure of the crushing corset. One night, to her eternal regret, she had struggled so much in the mono-glove that she had accidentally turned herself over onto her front and had spent the whole night in agony with all her weight on her tender, distended breasts and her arms pointing in the air like a ships mast.

The daughter forces her arm back up to the lacing bar and grips it with her fingers, and then drops her other arm for the fitting of the next sheath. Gingerly but quickly she moves her pointed toes a half an inch or so backwards and forwards, to regain her balance under the lacing bar. She can only move her feet so little, as she is now totally rigid from breast to toe and without her grasp on the lacing bar, she has no control and would soon fall over.

The maid then picks up a full size porcelain doll's face with eyes, lips and red rouged circle on each cheek; it is fastened with two straps over the kid mask to cover the straps and seams. Next comes a voluminous nightgown, heavily frilled, boned bodice with a pouch for the Austrian belt to fit the training corset, and a boned high collar, and of course long full sleeves. The maid places it over the daughters head, and the daughter releases one arm and then the other for the sleeves to be fed over her rigid arms. The maid then smoothes it down over the boned bodice, down to the floor and then begins to fasten the multitude of tiny buttons from the bottom of the corset right up to the high collar. The pigtail is then coiled up onto the top of the daughter's head and a large frilly nightcap is fitted, covering the top and the back of the kid mask and the edges of the pot mask.

Now as many of the 'devices' are concealed as possible, that is while the daughter is standing up and still hanging from the lacing bar. The mother and maid grasp the daughters arms and she then releases lacing bar and slowly totters towards the bed, led by the other women, as the daughter is now virtually blind, due to the combination of the collar forcing her head up, the small eye holes in the kid mask, and the misalignment of the eyeholes in the pot mask. When they reach the bed the maid supports, while she slowly falls as stiff as board down onto the bed.

Now that the daughter is lying down the maid can fit the padded bed socks to cover the metalwork of the orthopedic boots. These are like long babie's booties and cover the boots all the way to the corset cover and lace up with satin ribbons. The nightgown is then pulled down to cover the booties, leaving one last area of the daughter's body to be addressed. The maid picks up a pair of Doctor Paranaby's finger slimmers; each one consists four split tubes joined by four screws. The four tubes are fitted over fingers of one of the daughters hands and the screws tightened until her fingers are crushed. The mother is worried that the daughter's are too podgy and she will not look her best when she comes out. The other hand has similar treatment, and then the metal work on the hands is covered with padded mittens.

The maid then pulls the covers up to the daughter's chin, tucks them in and then stands back with the mother to survey the fruit of their labours. The mother leans forward and gives the daughter a kiss on the pot mask and then retires to the drawing-room, convinced that although the bedtime dressing marathon has taken an hour and half, she has done her best to ensure that her daughters bedtime hours are not wasted.

I think that mother is right, I cannot think of any more that the mother could do -- Can You???