The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-12-09
- Olhs FaSiIiNn.l."

to imply that he is antiquated behind
the times. stiff and formal, and holding
opinions which the world at large has
discarded; or it may be intended TO iudi-
cata chat he is sound conservative, OPP
posed to1all vicious novelties, a man of
gracious manners, an honest and high
minded man. | can recall many people
who, in their dress and manners and
style of conversation seemed to connect
one with Il former age, but such persons
ara getting scarcer every day. The or
nancntal wig and braided cue and taS-
seled boots, the low bow and graceful
wave of the hand in entering a room,
the stately speech that carefully avoids
aEv approach to slang. and never omits
titic and frames its periods with judi
cious care-of all this Che rising genera
ton know but little. In these times old
and yeung dress alilse and have much
1hesame manners; the average length Of
life LAS increased, but it is not always
easy 60 toll who they are that have
passed The grand cimacteric.
But If old-fashioned people are out of
datr. oft-fashioncd things were never in
such demand chairs, tables, secreta-
Ties. bullets. bellows, shoveiS, tongs,
and-iroAS, cranes, smolle-jacks, cups,
saucecs, platters. tea-pots, door-knOckers
YOU must visit an aucti0neer's shop if
you wish to complete the catalogue.
An old ebay Psalm Book" is counted
cheap ut $4,000. A picture, painted
few hundred years ago, and which never
that the coloring is pretty nearly gone
and She outlines are almost obliterated,
is sought after by connOisseurs with
cnrtest avdity, Evertbing is followed
by are. The kitchen of an ancient mon
as,crE where joints were roasted centu-
ric~ ago; the carpenter sshop, where join
Gr'8 work was done in ages dong gone
by; The deserted old church in which our
fathers once worShiped; the moudy and
.ictsety carriage, with all its faded splen-
dor, that used TO rattle proudly through
the strcots, but has Row been idle for
many Il gear; the cradle in which our
ancestors were rocked the yellow and
tattered heap of letters found by acct
dent in the garnet; tho file Of papers Civ
ING Jhe freshest news of q century ago
almost anything will be made sacred
by tho hand Of time.
IL is hard to realize that the dav will
conc when egG shall be regarded as the
0ld-faShoned people, and our habits and
modes Of thought as the old-fashioned
ways. Will the theories Of life that we
cherish. and Of which we are so proud,
ever come 10 be spoken of as fantastic
and unphilosophical and absurd? Will
the great points about which we dispute,
and which separate us into sects and
parties, be remitted hereafter TO the
region of F'thG unknown and unknow-
able" VIII our codes of civil law and
the processes of our courts be looked
upon rs semi-bafharous and unworthy
OF a civilized people? VIII our present
modes of travel be regarded as clumsy
and Slow aud our teIegraphs and tele-
phones as rude and very imperfect in
vCntiousF Will che tools and nipple
mcnts and machines that are now in use
be SET aside for something more conve-
nicut and effective? One thing is GER
tain-if the world lasts long enough, we
must after awhile take our place ''in the
dark backward and abysm of time" and
tlie mould gather over us and our doingS.
n, il has over that which has gone before
Us,
SEINE Old-fashioned things are liable
30 he revived. while there are others
which when they have once been
abolished, are buried forever. | do not
believe that the barbarities of oldcn
days, the ruthless crueltics which dis.
tlugushed the past, the iniliction of pain
simply for the sake of the pain, the iu-
TCutiup of elaborate instruments of tor
turc, subjecting men to The rack in order
60 elicit evidence; burning them at the
stake, because of their religious opinions;
the numbering of women and children in
war-t do not believe that in any Chris
Gan or civilized land those atrocities will
ever be repeated again certainly they
will never be defended.
IL is very difficult to predictwhat may
happen in the domain of speculative be-
iiefa; Tor, at intervals, ethical and thco-
logical and philosophical dogmas are
ro>lseittted and put upon Their feet
Whle'i we had supposed had gone undo,
ground, 10 be seen no more. Some
people have 4 hankcring after things
entirely irrespective of their merit
merely because they are old. 1t seems
to give them q fecEng OF superiority that
ny w iiVb A"il III Nllu tUc current
thought of the age i'll which they are so
unfortunate as to 1--we. 1t is as ii q man
were TO dress himself up in his grand
fathers clothes, and imagine that this
would make him august and venerable.
Here and there we stumble upon an
author who affects to write in the old
fashioned style, using obsolete words
and phrases and antique forms of ex-
preston. making his sentences yerylouo
and complicated along with
what he supposes to hc a sort of Millonic
grandeur, when, in fact, ne is only dull
and Prosy aud unreadablp How would
IAN oId-tashi0ned sermon, with n dozen
ieadins heads, and several dozen minor
divisions. and score or two of inferen-
ccs and two or three long practical ap
piicalehS ut the close, be received bv n
Sunday congregation to-day? How
would physician succeed who should
practice in the old heroic style, aud
phlehotomiacHd iHfRttlms Howwould
a farmer prosper who should cultivate
his land aud gather in his crops after the
fashion OF hundred years ago? How
would mechanic get on in The world
who abiurcd all the tools that have been
Invented during the last half century?
HoWwould manufacturer thrive who
insisted UDon maxine his rooJS ia tho