St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-15
DR.. Talmags Vividly Pictures the Evil
Effects Upon Character Of the
Idolatry Of Fashion.
Eternal Reward Seldom Melted Out to Men
and Women who ara Extrava-
CANT Dressers.
The Parlor and Drawing Room Rum
ming Race with the Theater
and Opera Bouffe.
Through Human Clothes May often
Be Traced Discomfort, Stealth,
Humiliation and Death.
DR.. Talmage's Sermon.


BROOKLYN, n. Y, Feb. 14.-The sub
ject of DR.. Talmage's sermon to-day was
Costume and Morals. The text was from
Isaiah ill.,, 10, 1928:
Moreover the Lord said: Because the
daughters of Zion are naughty and walk with
stretched-forth necks aud wanton ewes
walking and mincing as they go, and making
o tinkliug with their feet, in that day the
Lord will take away the bravery OF their
Thinking ornaments about their feet, and their
caulS, and then round tires like the moon,
the chains and the bracelets, and the muftiers,
the bonnets. and the ornaments OF the legs
and the headbands, and the tablets, and the
earrings, the rings, and the nose-jewels, the
changeable suits of apparel and the mantles,
and the wimples, and the crisping-pins, the
glasses, and the fine linen, aud the hoods, and
the wells.
DR.. Talmage said: This IS Tyrian fash
ion plate. Ii puts US $500 years back and
sets US down in an ancient city. The pro-
cessiOn of men and women is moving up
and down the gay streets. 1t is the height
OF The fashionable season. The sensible
men and women move with so much mod
esty that they do not attract our attention.
But here come the naughty daughters of
Jerusalem. They lean forward; they lean
very much forward; so far forward as to be
Misunderstanding, webbing, wriggling,
flirting, or, as my text describes il, they
walk with stretched forth necks, walking
and mincing as they co." They have in
most
ASTOUNDING STYLE
arranged their bonnets and their wells and
their entire apparel, and now 90 through
the streets taking more of the pavement
than they are entitled to, sweeping along
with skirts that the text describes as ''rOund
tires like the MOON" Seel that is a prin-
cessi Look That is a Damascus sword
maker. Look! That is q Syrian merchant
The jingling of the chains and the lashng
of the headbands and the exhibitions OF
universal swagger. attract the attention of
the prophet Isaiah. and he brings his cam
era to bear upon the scene and takes pic
ture for all the ages. But where is that
scene? Vanished. Where are those gay
streets? Vermin-cOyered population pass
through them. Where are the hands and
the necks and the fOreheads and the should
ers and the feet that spOrted all that mag
niticence? Ashes! Ashes! That we should
all be clad is proved by the opening of the
finest wardrobe in paradise. with its APP
parel of dark green. That we should all as
far as our means allow us be beautifully
and gracefully appareled, is proved by the
fact that God never made wave but he
gilded it with golden sunbeams, OF a tree
but he garlanded il with blossoms. or a sky
but he studded it with stars, or allowed
even the smoke of d furnace TO ascend but
he cOlumned and turTeted and doled and
Scroled it into outlines of understandable
gracefulneSs. When L see the apple-or-
ehards of the spring and the pageantry of
the autumnal forests, come to the con-
clusiOn that if nature ever does join the
church, while she
MAY DE A QUAKER
in the silence OF her worship. she never will
be a Quaker in the style of her dress.
Why the nOtches of a fern leaf or the
stamen OF water lily? Why. when the
day departs, does it let the folding doors of
heaven stay open SO long, when il might go
in so quickly? One summer morning l saw
an army of a million spears, each one
adorned with diamond of the irst water
1 mean the grass with the dew on il.
When the prodigal came home his father
not only put a coat on his back, but jewelry
on his hand. Christ wore beard. Paul,
the bachelor apostle. not afflicted with any
sentimentality, admired the arrangement OF
a wOmanS hair when he said i'm ms eDistle
If a woman have long hair 1t is glory
unto her." There will be fashion in heaven
as on earth but il will he different kind of
fashion. 1t will decide the color of the
dress. and the population of that country
by beautiful law. will wear white l saw
these things as a background to my sermon
to show you that L have no prim. precise
prudish or cast-irOn theories on the subject
of human apparel; but the goddess of
fashion has set up her throne in this cOun-
Try, and at the sound Of the timbrels we
are all expected to tall down and worship
n1F
bodies and souls of ten thousand victims.
In her temple four people stand in the
organ loft and from them there comes
down cold driZzle of music, freezing on
the ears of her wOrshippers. This
GODDESS OF FASHION
has become a rival OF the Lord of heaven
aud earth. and it is high time we unlmbered
our batteries against this idOlatry. When |
come TO count the victims of fashion find
as many masculine as feminine. Men make
an easy TRADE against women as though she
were the chief wOrshipper at this idOlatrous
shrine, and no doubt some men in the more
conspicuous part of the pew have already
cast glances at the more retired part of the
pew. their look prophecy of a generous
distribution. Ny sermon shall be as APP
pTOpriate for one end of tine pew as for the
other. l suppose that the American stage
is responsible for much of this. do not
go 10 theaters, so L must take the evidance
of the actors and managers of theaters.
such as Mr.. John Gilbert. Mr.. A. NJ.
Palmer and Dir. Daniel T.. Bandmann.
They have recently told us that the crime of
undress is blasting the theater. which BY
manyis considered school OF morals and
indeed superior to the church and fore
runner of the millennium. Mr.. Palmer
says:
The bulk of the performances on the stage
is degrading and pernicious. The managers
strive to come just as near the line as posi-
BILE without fagrantly breaking the law
There never have been costumes worn on a
stage of this city either in theater hall or
''dive" so improper as those that clothe some
of the chorus in recent comic opera produe-
tons
He says In regard to the female perform
erS:
It is not a question OF whether they can
sing, but just how little they will consent TO
wear.
MR.. BANDMANN,
who has been twenty-nine years on the
stage and before almost all nationaIities,
says:
unhesitatingly state that the taste of the
present theater-going people of America as a
bodyis of coarse and vulgar nature. The
Hindoo would turn with disgust at such exhi-