Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1872-04-27
From Morton's School Journal.
LOVE OF FINERY.
ny MARIA JounpAN wEsrMoRrLAN

Br MARIA JoCRDAS wEsrMoRELAND.
The inordinate love of show which
is SO prevalent at present may be found
in the seedy broadcloth of the husband
and in the tawdry silk of the wife
The verdict of the true and good is
that the former would appear infinite
ly better in plain business suit, and
that the latter would look ever 40 much
prettier in neat calico dress and white
arpon. But shoddy sneers at such
cheap fabrics, and as all funkeydom
must follow in the train of that i'm.
perial tyrant, Fashion, or be ostracised
from its select (2) ranks, the attempt
is made. To see how this is possible
we will step behind the scenes and an.
aiyze the complexion machinery. I'm
aglne man with twelve hundred a
year aping his ncighbor who has an in
come OF as many thousands. You
will readily say this is impossible Sc
1t is literally, but not virtually. Then
you will ask how it can be done. Lis
ten and we will tell you. Inthat man $
house there is but one furnished room,
the parlor, and could you sec the bare
floors, the naked walls, the cherries
chambers behind the scenes, you would
shiver and seek more congcnial at
mospherc. No statuary or pictures
suggest refinement of taste, no books
adorn the tables except fashion maya.
zines: no luxuries tempt the palate ;
and the Gesolation that reigns within
that abode (for it can not be called
home) can be better imagined than
described. The worried expression
upon the fathers face has deepened
into settled scowl; the anxiety of
the mother has soured her disposition
INTO a chronic peevishness; and the
children never address each other ex :
ccpt in the harshest terms. Thus the
home which should be the abode of
peace and rest and happiness becomes
a bedlam by reason of the discomfort
of its inmates. The natural affections
of the heart are crushed, the mind is
left to run riot, the palate is starved.
and even the salvation of their souls is
forgotten in the mad pursuit to i'm
press the world that they are what
they are not The neighbor's daught-
ers appear in satin, Lyons velvet. and
diamonds; the twelve hundred a
year then come out satinet, vclveteen.
and paste.
Parents do not seem to reflect that
this love of finery and false show ia
developing fictitious idea in their
children's minds, which, if indulgcd
in,. will at last supplant the sentiments
OF honesty and truth themselves. The
cultivation of the mind is considered
of minor importance to the decoration
of the body, and the study of the usu-
al curriculum of colleges is cut short
thai, the money thus saved may be ex-
pended at the dollar store" And
to what does this false system of edu-
cation lead? To discomfort, enyies,
and chickering's to non n-appreciation
of lifc's duties; to a neglected house.
hold, and, what is worse, pernicious
habits bequcathcd to the next genera
ton.
On the contrary, where dress is sub
servient to mental culture, it will be
found that each day is welcomed with
JOY, for it brings pleasures that do not
cloy, delights that do not weary, pas
times, that do not surfeit; for into
none of these moments do those petty
jealousies intrude which render the
life of the fashionist miserable. As a
matter Of principle, would it not be
well for the cultured to ignore the
flash toilets of the frivolous meu
and women, thereby setting an example
that would perhaps be the first step
toward much-needed reform? For
| 1t is possible that if these gaily-deck
ed butterflies found that their dress
alone no longer gave them the cntree
into select and cultivated circles. they
might at length begin to improve their
their long-neglected faculties. Will
people never learn that it is no
disgrace to be poor2 1t occurs to us
that the disgrace consists in pervert
ing the life that should be real and
earnest into false and frivolous chan
ncls. The Son of man had not where
to lay his head, and yet what emper-
or can compare to him? What king
dom will outlast his? But material
poverty is a drop in the ocean when
contrasted with intellectual poverty,
A man may be arrayed in purple and
/ nhN hhS", ohu i"iS SuuiptuOuSlN tNtTy
day, yet the most abject slave in his
train may be his superior by reason of
his mental attainments. Those per-
sons who devote their lives to books
and literature have neither time nor
inclination for the decoration of their
bodies, and they desire rather to ex-
pend their money in books and pic
lures than in those costly trifes in
which society demands they shall be
decked. But until mental culture is
more appreciated than the set of a
panier or the tie of a cravat this state
of things must exist. Even now it
requires more courage for woman to
dress plainly than it does for man to
walk up to the mouth of cannon aud
be shot at. Let us hope though that
the good sense Of the people will bring
about a wholesome reform at last, and
that the day may not be distant when
plain body and cultivated mind will
take precedence over a barren mind
and a gilded body.
FROM report of Joaquin Millcr's
lppturp on Ennlan1, "NanoIoon III