Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-02-09

we suddenly saw men hurled up into
the highest social positions. Had they
suddenly reformed from evil habits, or
graduated in science, or achieved some
good work for societyf No, they simply
had obtained Government contractl
This accounts for the utter chagrin
which people feel at the treatment they
receive when they lose their PROPERTY:
Hold up your head amid financial disas:
ter like . Christiant Fifty thousand sub
tracted FROM good man, leaves how
much? Honor, truth. faith in God, tri.
umphant hope, and . kingdom Of ineffable
glory, over which he is to reign forever
and ever
il the owner of millions should lose q
penny out of his pocket, would he sit
down on q curb-stone and cryi And
shall q man possessed OF everlasting
fortunes wear himself out with grief be.
cause he has lost his worldly treasuresf
You have only lost that in which hun
dreds Of wretched misers surpass you. and
you have saved that which the Caesars
and the Pharoahs and the Alexanders
could never afford.
And yet society thinks differently, and
you see the most intimate friendships
broken up as the consequences Of financial
embarrassmeits. You say to some one:
'How is your friend" The man looks be:
wildered, and says. 81 do not know"
Yon reply: "Why, you used to be init
mate" "Well," says the man. -FOUR
friends hip has been dropped. The man
has failed"
Proclamation has gone forth: s'Velvets
must go up and PLAIN apparel must come
dow n" and the question is: "How does
the coat FTP" not ''Who wears it," The
power that bears the tides Of excited pop.
u,ation up and down our streets, and
rocks the world of commerce, and thrills
all nations, transatlantic and cisatlantic
is clothes. 1t decides the last offices
Of respect, and how long the dress
shall bs totally black, and when it
may subside into spots Of grief on silk;
calico or gingham. Men die in good
but by reason of extrava-
CANT funeral expenses are we'll nigh in
solvent before they get buried. Many
men would not die at all if they had to
wait until they could afford it.
Wrong fashion is productive of O most
ruinous strife. The expenditure of many
is adjusted by what their
neighbors have, not by what they them.
selves can afford to have; and the great
anxiety Is as to who shall have the finest
house and the most costly equipage. The
weapons used in the warfare of social
life are not Mimic rifles, and Dahlgren
guns, and Hotchkiss shells, but chairs,
and mirrors, and vases, and Gobelins,
and Axminst Many household estab.
lishments are like racing steamboats, pro-
peeled ut the utmost strain and risk, and
lust coming to terrific explosion. "Who
cares" say they, eff we only come out
There Is no one cause to-day of more
financial embarrassment and of more dis.
honesties than this determination at all
hazards to live as well or better than other
people.
There are persons who will risk their
eternity upon one pier mirror, or who will
dash out the sp!endors of Heaven to get
ano thor trinket. my house is too
small" "But," says some one, ''you can
not ray for a larger" s.Never mind that,
my friends have better residence and Sc
will ]" "A dress Of that style and mate
rial l must have. can not afford it by
great deal, but who cares for thai? Ny
neighbor had one from that pattern, and
must have one." There are scores of men
in the dungeons of the penitentiary who
'isked honor, business-every thing, in
the effort to shine like others. Though
The Heavens fall they must be ''in the
fashion,"
The most famous frauds of the day have
'esulted from this feeling. 1t keeps hun.
ireds OF men struggling for their COM
existence. The trouble is that
~ -
arceny be small. If it be great they es.
cape and build their castle on the Rhine.
Men get into Jail not because they steal,
but because they did not steal enough.
Again: Wrong fashion makes people
natural and untrue 1t is a factory
rom which has come forth more hollow
oretenses and unmeaning batteries and
lypocricies than tho Lowell mills ever
;urned out shawls and garments. Fashion
IS the greatest Of all liars. 1t has made
10 ciety insincere. You know not what to
believe. When people ask you to come
7ou do not know whether or not they
want you to come. When they send their
'egards you do not know whether it is
IN expression of their heart or
IN external civility. We have
earned to take almost ev-
ny thing at a discount. Word is sent |
mot at home" when they are only too
azy to dress themselves. They say,
The furnace has just gone out" when in
ruth they have had no fire in it al win.
er. They apologize for the unusual bar.
enness of their table when they never
i've any better. They decry their most
luxurious entertainments to win q shower
+ approval.
They apologize for their appearance a.
hough it were unusual. when always at
lome they just look so. They would make
7ou believe that some nice sketch on the
wall was the work Of a master painter.
1t was an heirloom and once hung on the |
walls Of a castle; and a duke gave 1t to
heir grandfather" People who will
lot lie about any thing else will lie about |
picture. On small income we must |
make the world believe that we are am u
mt, and our life becomes a cheat, a
oun terfeit and sham.
The social life has been contorted and |
eformed. until, in some mountain cabin, |
vhere rustics gather to the quilting or the |
pple- pairing, there is more good cheer |
han in all the frescoed ice.houses of the |
metropolis. We want in ali the higher |
81 SiOo VI oOVi0ey uVS0 wa WSA VI u00Tt Il
nd naturalness of behavior, and not 90 |
many refrigerators.
Again: Wrong fashion is incompatible |
nth happiness. Those who depend for /
heir comfort upon the admiration of 9th. |
r. are subjectIto frequent disappointment |
will criticise their appearance,
r surpass them in brilliancy, or will re.
Give moro attention. Oh, the jealousy,
nd distraction, and heart-burnings
those who move in this bewildered
lazs! Poor butterflies? Bright wings
o not always bring happiness. "She
hat liveth in pleasure is dead while she