The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-02-02
DOMINION OF FASHION.
Or. TALMAcE'S FOURTH SERMON TO
THE WOMEN OF AMERICA.

THE WOMEN OF AMERICA.
iissimiifrity in the Attire of the Sexes
an Indication of Good DIorals-A HAS
cuiine Woman and Womanly Man
Arc Alike Eepugnant.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 29.-The Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage, d. D., preached today in
the Brooklyn Tabernacle the fourth of
the series of g Sermons to the Women of
America, with Important Hints to Men. y
The subject of the sermon was: sDomin-
lon OF Fashion" and the text was from
deuteronomy xxi, 5: 'fThe woman shall
not wear that which pertaineth unto a
man, neither shall a man put on wo-
mans garment: for all that do SO are
aoomlnation unto the Lord thy God. -
Dr. Talmage said:
In this, the fourth sermon of the series
of sermons, L wish those who hear to
bear In mind that / take into considera-
tlon hot only those whom have before
me on Sabbath days, but the wider audi
ence opened through the printing press;
and while some things may not be par
tlcularly appropriate for one locality,
they are appropriate for many other local
1tes. And here l will tell secret that 1
have never before told in public. About
twenty years ago | began to pray that
God would open to me the opportunity of
preaching through the secular news
paper press. The religious papers in
which my sermons had been published
chiefly went to positively religious fam
lies. So | asked God for the wider field
In which to proclaim the great truths of
religion and good morals In a strange
way the answer came. And the syndi-
Gates having charge of these matters
inform me that every week there are
now 1900, 600 copies of my dis
courses published in this country, and
about four million in other lands, whether
English speaking countries or by transla-
ton i'll many foreign tongues. l want
people to understand that it is all in an
swer to prayer to God that this opportu-
nifty has come and l pray for grace to
occupy the field. 1t is not, therefore,
presumptuous when give wide scope to
these discourses and address them "to
the women Of American, with important
hints to men,"
God thought wOmanly attire of enough
importance to have it discussed in the
Bible. Paul the Apostle, by no means
q sentimentalist, and accustomed to dwell
on the great themes of God and the
resurrection, writes about the arrange
ment of woman's hair and the style Of
her jewelry, and In my text Moses, his
ear yet filled with the thunder of Mount
Sinai, declares that womanly attire must
DE in marked contrast with mas
culine attire, and infraction of
that law excites the Indignation of
high heaven. Just in proportion as the
morals of country or an age are de-
pressed is that law defied. Show ME the
fashion plates of any century, from the
time OF the deluge to this, and will tell
you the exact state of public morals.
Bloomerism in this country years ago
seemed about to break down this divine
Jaw, but there was enough of good in
american society to beat back the in
decency. Yet ever and anon we have
imported from France, or perhaps in
vented ON this side of the sea, style
that proposes as far as possible to make
~women dress like men, and thousands of
young women catch the mode, until some
one goes a little too far in imitation of
masculinity, and the whole custom by the
good sense of American womanhood is
obliterated.
The costumes of the countries are diff
ferent, and in the same country may
change, but there is diyinely ordered
dissinlilaIity which must be forever OBJ
served. Any divergence from this is
administrative of vice and runs against
abe keen thrust of the text, which says
saThe woman shall not wear that which
re11aineth unto a man, neither shall q
man put on a woman's garment: for al
that do so art abomination unto the Lord
ahy God"
Many years ago French authoress
signing herself George Sand, by her cor
rIpt but brilliant writings depravec
homes and libraries innumerable, ant
was literary grandmother of all the
present French and American author,
svho have written things so much wors,
ahat they have made her putrefactioi
unite presentable. That French authores
out on masculine attire. She was con
sistent. Her writings and her bebavio
were perfectly accordant.
NV text, by implication, abhors mascu
line women and womanly men. What
sickening thing it is to see man copy
ing the speech, the walk, the manner o
n woman. The trouble is that they d
not initiate sensible woman, but SOM
female imbecile. And they simper, an
they go with mincing step, and lisp, am
scream at nothing, and take on a Ian
gushing look, and bang their hair, an
are the nauseaion of honest folks of bet
sexes. Oh, man, be a mani You belon
to quite respectable sex. The startin
6plre of the human race was a man. ID
not try to cross over, and so become
bybrid. neither one nor the other, but
failure, half way between,
Alike repugnant are masculine svomer
They copy mans stalking gait and 6
down the street with the stride of
walkingbeam. They wish they coul
smoke cigarettes and some of them dc
They talk boisterously and try to sin
bass. They do not laugh, they roal
They cannot quite manage the broad pr6
family OF the sex they rival, but the
conversation is often half swear; and
they said "Oh, Lord" in earnest praye
as often as they say it in iightness the
Nyould be high up in sainthood. With;
here is an assumed rugosity of appare
and they wear mans hat only change
by being in two or three places smashe
in and a dead canary clinging to the ger
sral wreck, and fnan's coat tucked
laere and there according 10 an unaccoun
able estLetics. Oh, woman, stay
woman! You also belong to a very =,
spectacle sex. The second figure of I'll
a'rnnan race was woman, and SOM
times a second edition of a volume is Il
first edition improved and corrected. !
mot try 30 cross over. If you do you wi
s,e n failure a. y woman and only MOI
1esoript of msp, We already hay
enough intellectual and moral bankrup
sn our sex without your coming over
make wosse the deficit.
In my text, rs by a parable or tigu
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