The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1867-05-09


arc not married, but may be engaged
or seeking an engagement IS equally
salutary: it's TO follow the will Of their
fathers and mothers The speaker
SAID ifa young lady, now a-days, was
to como to me and make secret coLfes-
sion of the fact that she was going to
be married and / should tell her to go
and consult her parents, she would say
| ought to have been born a hundred
years ago. There is nothing more
absurd, they think, than for you"g la
dies to consult their parents; but they
follow the guidance Of their own pass
ions, and tho results are divorces,
wretched lives, and still more wretohed
deaths. Tho third rule of ST. Austin
nvlatcd to those who had renouncsd
the world, and they should follow the
will of Him whom they had chosen to
follow.
The first rulo allowed considerable
indulgence IN dress, which should be
regulated by the ago and season. A
little straw hat, exceedingly short
skirts, very short cropped hair, (Which
q short time ago was the fashion among
ladies considerably advrnced in years.
are proper in girls from eight to ten
years OF age, but border on the rdicu.
lous and indecent in ladies of fifty sum-
mers. Marriage is the normal condi-
ton of men and women, but when it is
not sought for by those who are free to
enter into that state, itshows that there
is cause, and that cause is not favor
able to virtue, religion or the good of
society. Only seven marriages were
solcmnized in the church of St Bridget
last year. The cause is apparent. l
broached the subject to young man
NOT SO very young eithor--rcmark
ing | heard he was going to get mar
ried. He turned, and with the sim
plicity of child ten years of age, said,
"Fathcr Payne, | am surprised that
you should ever think l was going to
be married. Bless your life (his very
words.) ! could not keep my wife IN
dry goods. Laughter When l be-
come rich man, thon l will marry,
but not before, because / want to do
tho thing properly" Laughter. l.
You smile, said the reverend speaker,
but j am in earnest,
lie had certain amount of reason
for what he SAID, and that reason is
not crcditablo to the young women
Extravaganza in dress makes it diff
cult for men in the married state to
fulfill their obligations, and this is the
reason why young men do not want to
get married. The young women have
become so fond Of dress that theyoung
men are frightened and this is not for
the good Of religion and society. Let
me give tho young ladies this advice.
Be less anxious abont yout appearance;
spend less Of your earnings adorn.
ing your persons; and think Of your
souls. Rcmcmberthat the moment will
force itself upon you when you will be
stretched out lfelcss IN the c)fiin.-
When that time comes there will be q
single winding sheet that may be
bought for few cents, to wrap you in.
| The ornaments that remain will be
ornaments of virtue which have ac-
companicd you all through lite, and
will remain throughout an endless
eternity.
Though the great wee among wo-
men If the present day is want of
economy, still there is something Of an
immodcst nature. There never was u
time when women studied moro s.d-
ulously the art of dressing than at the
present time. 1t has been reduced to
a regular system, and the dressing of
tho body is Just as much an art as
sculpture or painting If tho women
had spent half as much time in adorn-
ing the soul as the body, they would
have been saints long since, leaving
lho stGrner sex IN tho background.
Woman has special mission to re-
move the rough spots and smooth the
uneven surface Of man, and make him
love purity by presenting it to him
every day IN her person. When wo-
man forgets her mission, and her hab-
its excite only illicit love, tho result is
social ana moral degradation. -
Young ladies who dress in the fashion
ofthe present day dress not as "become
women protesting godlncss with good
works" A few days since | was in
the business part Of Rochester settling
the accounts of the church, and after
leaving the banking-houso whore
these things arc done, stopped on the
front step to look over the church
bank hook to SEQ that every thing was
right. While | stood there over
heard two persons whom took to be
gentlemen-from their clothes-cer-
tainly not otherwise. ! raised my
eyes to see what should cause such re-
marks, and saw three young ladies,
two of whom were ten or twelve years
old, and the third about seventeen.
They stood with their backs to me,
looking through magnificent store
window, where jewelry and fancy ar
ticles were exposed to public gaze.