a) a saleswoman murmurs, “Well, dear, perhaps a size 38 _would_ be just a wee bit more comfy.” b) a taxi driver asks, “Where to, Madam?” (they’ve always called you “Miss”). c) a husbandly voice commands, “Sit in front with me, Sonnie, and give mother the back seat where she can spread.” d) walking down Main Street you catch a quick, dreadfully candid glimpse of yourself in a plate glass window. “Heavens!” If the THOUGHT has come to you, it is likely, alas, to be followed swiftly by second, third, fourth, and fifth thoughts. Thus: 2) “Oh well, I’m not so _very_ fat.” 3) “As it is, I don’t eat enough to keep a bird alive.” 4) “Anyhow, I come by it naturally—look at my own mother!” 5) “Besides, diets are dreadful.” We won’t argue with you about thoughts 2, 3 or 4, assuming that you know more about your weight, your intake, and your mother than we do. But when you get to thought 5, we rise up, thus: DIETS NEED NOT BE DREADFUL (If this booklet doesn’t prove it, then you go right on eating food and we’ll have to eat the booklet.) DON’T FALL FOR FALLACIES! You can easily talk yourself out of dieting by falling for one of those old fallacies that women hug to their (ample) bosoms, namely: “What I _really_ need is a new girdle.” [Illustration: uncaptioned] “To be slim and svelte, all you need to do is to ooze yourself into our Streamliner Stretch.” Sez the ad. “Pooh!” sez we. Common courtesy should tell you that you have to meet a two-way stretch half-way. No sixteen-ounce trifle of satin and elastic is going to cope with 160 pounds of womanhood, and stay svelte. Science is wonderful, my dear, but it’s not _that_ good! “I really need my extra weight for reserve.” We freely admit that camels are said to store up extra fat for reserve in their humps. Camels lead hard lives. But when were _you_ last in the Sahara Desert? “I haven’t the will power to go on a reducing diet.” It isn’t _will_ power so much as _choice_ power that’s needed. We complimented a girl recently for sticking so faithfully to a diet. “Honestly, it isn’t a bit hard now,” she said. “I simply looked myself in the eye one day and asked, ‘Well, which do you choose—to step into a nifty 36 without alterations? Or fudge cake?’ After I really set my mind on the 36, the fudge cake just bored me.” (There must be a moral here somewhere.) “Oh, well, I’ll start on a diet ... next week.” All we can say to this is that statistics (and human nature) prove that you won’t. THE CASE OF MRS. PLENTEOUS So far we’ve been appealing to your good looks. Here goes for a try at your good sense. (You must have some, or you wouldn’t still be reading.) We refer to good sense about health. Some women are beautiful, some are healthy, some are both, and some are neither. And into the last class fall (or roll) the definitely overweight. [Illustration: uncaptioned]