The rights of all., 1829-06-12
I 3

more good than evil But if the rich have
new dress every fortnight, people of ofmoderate
fortuneW1ll have one everymonth. In this way Fl
merry becomes the standard of ofrespectabiIitv &.
mans clothes is more consequence than his
character.
Men of fixed salaries spend every cent of
their income. and then leave their children to
depend on the precarious charity and reluc-
ant friendship of a world they have wasted
their substance to please. Men who rush in
to enterprise and speculation keep up their
credit by splendour,-and should they sink,
they and their families carry with them extrav-
aga ant habits to corIode their spirits with dis
content, perchance to tempt them into crime.
| 4" know we are extravagant," said one ofmy
acqua intance, the other day J" but low can
help it? My husband does not like 10 see his
wife and daughters dress more meanly than
those with whom they associate" Then, my
dear lady, your husband has moi as much NOR
al dignity, and moral courage, as thought he
had. He should be content to see his wife &
daughters respected for neatness and good
manners" This all sounds very well in
talk" replied the lady; " but say what you
will about pleasing and intelligent girls, no.
body will attend to them unless they dress in
the fashion. Ifmy daughters were to dress IN
UC pldlH3 ACdt JOu iCCohHCHu3 my
woold see all their acquaintance asked to
dance more frequently than themselves, and
not gentleman would Join them IN Cornhlll'"
81 do not believe this, in so extensive
sense as you do. Girls may appear genteelly
without being extravagant and though some
fops May know the approved colour OF a
ribbon, or the newest arrangement for trim
ming, | believe gentlemen of real character
merely notice whether lady's dl ess is gene
rally in good taste, or not. But granting your
statement to be true, in its widest sense, OF
what consequence is it ? How much will the
whole happiness of your daughterss life be af
fected by her dancing some fifty times less than
her companions, or wasting some few hours less
in the empty conversation Of coxcon bs A
man often admires style of dress, which he
would not venture to support in wife. Tx
travagance has prevented many marriages.
and rendered still more unhappy. And should
your daughters fail in forming good connex-
ions, what have you to leave them, save ex-
travagart habits too deeply rooted to be eradl-
Gated Think you those who now laugh at
them fo" soiled glove, or an Questionable
neglected old age? No-they would find
them as cold and selfish as they are vain. A
few thousands in the bank are worth all the
fashionable friends in christendom.
Whether my friend was convicted or not
cannot say; but saw her daughters in Corn
hill the next week with new French hats and
blonge wells.
1t is really melancholy TO see how this fever
Of extravaganza RACES, and how it is sapping
the strength of our happy country, 1t has no
bounds-it pervades all ranks, and character
ICES all ages
f know the wife of payier, who spends her
three hundred year in /" outward adorning,
and who will not condescend 10 speak to her
| husband, while engaged in his honest calling.
Mechanics who should have too high Il
sense of their own responsibility to resort to
such pitiful competition, will indulge their