Milford chronicle., 1888-02-03


at homen when they are only too lazy to dress
themselves. They say: eThe furnace has
Just gone outn when in truth they have had
no fire in it all winter They apologize for
the unusual barrenness Of their table when
they never live any better They decry their
most luxurious entertainments to win a
shower Of approval. They apologize for
their appearance, as though itwere unusual,
when always at home they look just so. They
would make you believe that some nice sketch
on the wall was the work Of a master painter.
sit was an heirloom and once hung on the
walls of castle; and duke gave it to their
grandfather" People who will not lie about
anything else win lie about picture. On a
small income we must make the world believe
that we are afiuent, and our life becomes a
cheat, counterfeit and sham.
Few people are really natural and unaf-
fected. When say this do not mean to
slur cultured manners. It is right that we
should have more admiration for the sculp-
tured marble than for the unhewn block Of
the quarry. From many circles in life fash
ion has driven out vivacity and enthusiasm.
A frozen dignity instead floats about the
room and iceberg grinds against iceberg.
You must not laugh outright, it is vulgar.
across the room, you must glide. There is q
round Of bows, and grins, and batteries, and
obs and abs, and simperings, and namby-
pambyism, a world of which is not worth
one good, round, honest peal Of laughter.
From such a hollow round the tortured guest
retires at the close of the evening and assures
his host that he has enjoyed himself.
Thus social life has been contorted and de
formed until in some mountain cabin, where
rustics gather to the quilting or the apple
pairing, there is more good cheer than in
all the frescOed ice houses Of the metropolis.
We want in all the higher circles Of society
more warmth Of heart and naturalness Of
behavior, and not so many refrigerators.
Again: Wrong fashion is incompatible
with happiness. Those who depend for their
comfort upon the admiration of others are
subject to frequent disappointment Some
body will criticise their appearance, or sur
pass them in brilliancy, or will receive more
attention. Oh, the jealousy and distraction
and heart burnings of those who move in
this bewildered mazel Poor butteraiesl
Bright wings do not always bring happiness.
"She that liveth In pleasure is dead
while she liveth.n The revelations of
high life that come to the chal-
lenge and the fight are only occasional crop
pings out Of disquietudes that are under
meath, like the stars Of heaven for multitude,
but like the demons of the pit for hate This
misery that will tonight in the cellar cuddle
up in the straw is not so utter as the princely
disquietude that stalks through splendid
drawing rooms, brooding over the slight;
and offenses Of luxurious life. The bitterness
of life seems not so uniting when drunk out
Of pewter mug as when it pours from the
chased lips of golden chalicc In the sharp
crack Of the voluptuarys pistol, putting ar
end to his earthly misery, hear the con1ir
nation that in a hollow fastidious life there
is no peace.
Again: Devotion to wrong fashion is pro
ductive of physical disease, mental imbecil-
ity and spiritual whitening. Apparel INSULT
cient TO keep out the cold and the rain, or Sc
fitted upon the person that the functions OF
life are restrained; late hours filed with ex-
citement and feasting; free drafts of wine
that innke one not beastly intoxicated. but
only fashiOnably drunk, and luxurious indo-
lence-are the instruments by which this
unreal life pushes its disciples into valetudi-
narianism and the grave. Along the walks
of prosperous life death goes a-mOwing-and
such harvests as are reapedl Materia medica
has been exhausted to find curatives for these
physiological devastations. Dropsies, can
GERS, consumptions, gout and almost every
infirmity in all the realm Of pathology have
been the penalties paid To counteract the
damage pharmacy has gone forth with me
dicament, panacea, elixir, embrocatiOn, salve
and cataplasm.
Tonight with swollen feet upon cushioned
ottoman, and groaning with aches innumer-
able, will be the votary of luxurious living,
not half so happy as his groom or coal HEAVIER
Wrong fashion is the worlds undertaken, and
drives thousands of hearses to Greenwood
and Laurel Hill and Mount Auburn.
But, worse than that, this folly is an intel
lectual depletion. This endless study Of
proprieties and etiquette, patterns and styles,
is bedwarfing to the intellect. never knew
woman or a man of extreme fashion that
knew much. How belittling the study Of
tho cut Of coat, or the tic of a cravat, or
tho wrinkle in a sleeve, or the color of rib
bonl How they are worried if something
gets united, or hangs awry, or is not nicely
adjusted With a mind capable of measuring
the height and depth of great subjects: able
to unravel mysteries, to walk through the
universe, to soar up into the infnity of Gods
misunderstanding perpetually over a new
style Of cloak I have known men reckless
as to their character and regardless of inter
ests momentous and eternal, exasperated by
the shape of a vest button. What is the
matter with that woman wrought up into
the agony of despairg Oh, her muff is out Of
fashionl
Worse than all-this folly is not satisfied
until it has extirpated every moral sentiment
and blasted the soul. A wardrobeis is the rock
upon which many a soul has been riven. The
excitement Of luxurious life has been the
vortex that has swallowed up more souls than
the Maelstrom Off Norway ever destroyed
ships. What room for elevating themes in a
heart filed with the trivial and unreall
Who can wonder that in this haste for sun
gilded baubles and winged thistle down men
and women should tumble into ruin! The
travellers to destruction are not all clothed in
rags. On that road chariot jostles against
chariot; and behind steeds in harness golden
plated and glittering, they go down, coach and
four, herald and position, racketing on the
bot pavemonts of hell Clear the track Ba.
zaars hang out their colOrs over the road; and
trees of tropical fruitfulness OverbEanch the
way. No sound of woe disturbs tne air, but
all is light, and song, and wine and gorgeous
ness The world comes out to meet the daz.
ding procession with: "Hurrahl hurrah r
But suddenly there is a halt and an outcry Of
dismay, and an overthrow worse than ths
Red sea tumbling upon the Egyptians,
shadow Of gravestones upon finest silk
Wormwood squeezed into irnpearled goblsts
Death with one cold breath Tithering thu
leaves and freezing the fountains.
In the wild tumult Of the last day-th
mountains falling, the heavens flying, tn
thrones uprising, the universe assembling
amid the boom of The last great thunder pea
and under the cracking Of a burning world
what will become Of the disciple of unholl
fashionl
But watch the career Of one thoroughly
artificial Through inheritance, or perhap
his own skill having obtained enough foi
purposes of display, he feels himself thor
oughly established. He sits aloof from th'
common herd, and looks out Of his window
upon the poor man and says: "Put tina
dirty wretch of my steps immediately Ol
Sabbath day he finds the church, but mourn
the fact that he must worship with so manl
m.