The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1879-04-04

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garment hides itself when the south
} wind blows its warm breath over the
shivering earth. but the cloaks Of seal.
skin continue 10 defy the sun, and in,
suit the spring, as long as they can be
borne. All seasons save midsummer
ara theirs; and that would be, also, il
the two could be made compatible, but
they can not. Nature conquers the SOW
ercign sealskin. For brief season
they are laid low. Blessed be the sum-
mer, and thrice-blessed the conquering
moth. In the fall the pudgy, fuzzy, un-
wieldy and ungraceful garments arc the
first herald OF the dreary winter. Their
owners bring them out often before the
Indian summer comes, and flaunt them
in the face Of the dying summer, with
an air Of deriving much satisfaction
from them. There is no doubt that the
sealskin is vulgarizing in its tendencies
and belittling in its influence. The
modestest woman in the world will put
on few airs of intolerance and vanity
under the immediate influence OF seal
skin, all her own, which makes her look
fat and awkward, and sometimes vul-
gar. And what will not q woman sac
riice 10 possess sealskin? Almost
every creature comfort. She will stint,
and scrape, and wear shabby dresses,
and mean shoes, and still be very hap
py, if she can, with the proceeds of her
economy, purchase one. How
cheerfully she lays down the two
hundred or two hundred and fifty
dollars to accumulate which has cost
her SO much mental labor and physical
exertion, and receives in return the
clumsy garment which she ever after
ward cherishes as her fondest treasure.
She never wishes that she had put the
money into something else, or kept il
for the terrible rainy day. The sealskin
is at once her solace an her shelter.
She puts it on, and is ready to hold her
head up under all imaginable difficult
ties. II eleyates her into = superior al
titude. 1t supports her even better
than religion. 1t comforts her when
nothing else can. Unshakable and in
applicable Is the hold Of sealskin upon
the feminine mind. This sovereign Of
the wardrobe Is woman-slayer. 1t
kills its adorers as cheerfully and con-
stantly as the monarchs OF ancient
Egypt slew their relatives and enemies.
Grayeyards blossom with the graves OF
its victims. The miserable seal, which 4
was robbed of its life that human be-
ings might wear its handsome fur, has
its revenge long after its bones are
bleached and d-cayed. Its skin becomes
its aveager. This is the way it does its
work: A woman Of moderate, perhaps
limited finances, own sealskin that
she must and will have, il shoes and
bread are scarce. She Is careful Of
only when she Is dressed up, and
goes down town on little shopping ex-
cursions, or goes out calling Sac
comes home, and puts il away with the
greatest care. The same day-perhaps
several times during the same day she
makes errands to the grocery store, or
TO her neighb0rs, but she does not wear
the sealskin. She grabs up an old
shawl, and throws il around her. OF
course she takes cold, after having been
so much more warmly clad when she
went down town. She blames every
thing but the guilty agent, the sealskin.
Another way in which the owner Of the
expensive and clumsy sack Is assisted TO
her death is by wearing her scalskin to
or the theater, and sitting with
i on and getting overheated, and then
going out into the cold'air. There was
4 conspicuous case Of death BY scalskin
in this city last winter, though the doc
'ors called it pneumonia. The victim
vas young woman, and quite pretty.
She had one ambition which had never
been gratified. She wanted TO own I
She stinted. and saved, and I
: rubbed along" until she finally owned
)ne. She was another illustration OF !
he sad truism thai we never enjoy the !
ruition Of our labors. She worshiped
hat ugly sealskin, and In spite of the !
act that it made her look as big 9
md as awkward as dromcdary, 9
he was very happy when she Y
wore It. II landed her in tbs grave ear :
y in the season. We consulted one Of '
he best physicians in the city on the 7
ubject Of death in the sealskin, and babe q
linn look over the congregation in his &
hurch, and see II the women who wore 9
ealskin wraps were not those who need \
q his services oftenest. He had never 7
bought Of 1t, but after two or three :
sundays observation admitted that such :
vas the case. There Is notion extant !
hat they confer an "air OF aristocracy' 9
N their wearers. II is false. Their cx. I
ensiveness makes them a bait for the =
ulgar, who fondly and vainly imagine q
hat the costly Is always the elegant. 9
lany women have yet to learn that =
lothcs take their tone from their wear p
r, instead Of the wsarer receiving dis. a
motion from her clothes. There is al
rays a shade Of felicity in the tone in .
Ihicha woman speaks of her sealskin. a
he never calls it her cloak. II is al \
rays my . sealskin,'' and it sounds ex- q