The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-01-30
DOMINION OF FASHION.
WOMANLY ATTIRE DISCUSSED IN
THE BIBLE.

dllO w Omdlly MSn-FaSDlOn SaDC-
tioned-Wrong Fashion Incompatible
With Happiness and Productive oi
Disease.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 29-The Rev T. Dewitt
Talmage, D. D., preached to-day in the
Brooklyn Tabernacle the fourth Of the series
of Sermons to the Women of America,
with Important Hintsto Men" The sub
iect of the sermon was: Dominion of
Fashion, " and the text was from Deuteron-
omy xii, ;. The woman shall not wear
that which pertaineth unto a man, neither
shall man put on a woman's garment; for
all that do so are abomination unto the
Lord thy God" DR.. Talmage said:
In this, the fourth sermon of the series of
sermons, | wish those who hear to bear in
mind that | take into consideration not only
those whom I have before me on Sabbath
days, but the wider audience opened through
the printing press, and while some things
may not be particularly appropriate for one
locality, they are appropriate for many
other localities. And here | will tell a Sc
cret that / have pever before told in public
About twenty years ago | began to pray
that God would open to me the opportunity
of preaching through the secular newspaper
press. The religious papers III which my
sermons had been published chiefly went to
positively religious families. SO l asked God
for the wider field in which to proclaim the
great truths of religion and good morals
In strange way the answer came. And
the syndicates having charge of these mat
| ters inform me that every week there are
now thirteen million SIX hundred thousand
copies of my discOurSes published in this
country, and about four million in other
tn,. l.
or by translation in many foreign tongues.
| want people to understand that it is all in
answer to prayer TO God that this opportu-
nifty has come, and / pray for grace to oc-
CupY the field. 1t Is not, therefore. pre-
sumptuOus when give wide ''scope to these
dlScourses and address them to the women
of America, with important hints to men"
God thought womaElv attire of enough
Importance to have it discussed in the
Bible. Paul, the Apostle, by no means a
| sentimentalist, and accustomed to dwell on
| the great themes of God and the resurrec-
ton, writes about the arrangement of
woman's hair and the style of her jewelry,
and in my text Moses. his ear yet filed with
the thunder Of Mount Sinai, declares that
wOmanly attire must be in marked contrast
with MASCULINE attire, and infraction of
| that law exctes the Indignation of high
heaven. just in proportion as the morals
of country or an age are depressed is that
| law defied. Show me the fashion plates of
any century from the time of the deluge to
! this, and l will tell you the exact state Of
/ public morals. Bloomerism in this country
| years ago seemed about to break down this
| divine law, but there was enough Of good
| in American society TO beat back the in
| decency. Yet ever and anon we have i'm
! ported from France, or perhaps invented or
| this side the sea, a 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 obiterated.
The costumes of the countries are differ
ent, and in the same country may change,
but there is divinely ordered diSsimilarity
which must be forever observed. Any
divergence from this is administrative Of
vice and runs against the keen thrust of the
text, which says: "The woman shall not
| wear that which pertainetn unto a man,
nei ther shall q mvn put on a wOman's gar
ment; for all that do so are abomination
unto the Lord thy Cod
Many years ago a French authoress,
! signing herself George Sand, by her corrupt
but brilliant writings, depraved homes and
| libraries innumerable, and was a literary
grandmother of all the present French and
| American authors who have written things
so much worse that they have made her
putrefaction quite presentabe. That
! French authoreSs put on masculine attire.
| She was consistent. Her writings and her
behavior were perfectly accordant.
My text by implication abhors masculine
women and wOmanly men. What a sick
ening thing it is 10 see a man copying the
speech, the walk the manner Of a woman.
The trouble is that they do not initiate a
sensible woman, but some female imbecie.
And they simper, and they go with mine
ing step, and lisp, and scream at nothing
and take on a languishiug look, and bang
their hair, and are the nauseation of honest
folks of both sexes o man. be a mani
You belong to quite a respectable sex. The
starting figure Of the human race was a
man. DO not try TO cross over, and to be-
come a hybrid, neither one nor the other,
but failure, halfway between.
Alike repugnant are masculine women
They copy a mans stalking gait and go
down the street with the stride Of a walk
ing beam. They wish they could smoke
cigarettes and some Of them do. They ia k
boisterously and try to sing bass. They do
not laugh, they roar. They cannot cutie
manage the broad profanity Of the sex they
rival, but their conversation Is often half
swear: and if they said 80 Lord" in earnest
prayer as often as they say it in lightness
they v ould be high up in sainthood. Withal
there is an assumed rugosity of apparel
and they wear q mans hat only
changed by being in two or
three places smashed in and dead
canary clinging TO tho general wreck, and
a mans coat tucked in here and there ac-
cording to an maccountable esthetcS. o
woman, stay a woman. You also belong
TO a very respectable sex. The second figure
Of the human race was a woman, and some
times second edition of a volume is the
first edition improved and corrected. Do
not try to cross over. If you do you will
be fai ure as a woman and only a monde
script Of a man We already have enough
intellectual and moral bankrup S in our sex
without your coming over to make worse
the deficit.
In my text as by a parable or figure Of
speech il is made evident that Moses the
inspired writor, as vehemently as ourselves,
reUrehended the effeminate man and the
masculine woman: THE woman shall not
wear that which pertaineth unto a man,
neither shall a man put on womans gar
ment: for all that do 50 are abomination
unto the Lord thy God"
NV text also sanctions fashion. Indeed it
sets a fashion. There is n great deal Of
senseless cant on the subject Of fashion. A
woman or man who does not regard II is
unfit for good neighborhood The only
question is what is right fashion and what
h wrong fashion. Before / stop | want 10
show you that fashion has been one OF the
most potent Of rcforners and ono Of the
vilest Of usurpcrs Sometimes II has boen
an angel from heaven and at others it has