The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1889-05-02
INFLUENCE OF THINGS.



Moral Omitted.
There was once lady, sober in
mind and sedate In manner, whose
plain dress exaetly represented her de-
sire TO be inconspicuous, TO do good,
teaimpro day at ihsRs Il IN
actions that should benefit her Kind.
She was a<serious person, inclined to
improving conversation 10 the read
ing Oh bound books that cost at least
a dollar and half ffffteen cents OF
which she gladly contributed to the
auther1, and she had distaste for
the gay society which was mainly a
futter OF ribbons and talk and pretty
faces; and when she meditated. as she
did in her spare moments, her heart
was sore over the frivolity Of life and
the emptiness offashion. She longed
TO make the world better, and without
any priggishness she set it an example
OF simplicity and sobriety, OF cheerful
acquiescence in plainness and incon-
81 siei g. BUSINESS esss,.
One day-it was in the autumn
this lady had occasion to buy d new
hat. From great number offered
her she selected a red one N.with
y duh red plumb. IT did not agree
with the rest of her apparel; it
did not fit her apparent character.
What impulse led TO this selection
she could not explain. She was not
tired of being good, but something in
the jauntiness of the hat and the color
pleased her. II It were temptation,
she did not intend to yield to it, but
she thought shezwould take the hat,
home and try it. Perhaps her nature
felt the need ofa little warmth. The
hat pleased her still more wien she
got it home and put it onzand surveyed
herself in the mirror. Indeed, there
was new expression in her face that
corresponded to the hat She put it
off and looked at it, There was some
thing almost humanity winning and
temptations in it. In short, she kept.
it, and when she wore it abroad she
was not conscious OF its incon gruity to
herself or to her dress. but of the in
congruity of the rest of her apparel to
the hat, which seemed to have sort
Of intelligence of it's own, at least a
power OF changing and conforming
things to itself. By degrees one article
after another in the lady's wardrobe
was laid aside, and another substituted
for it that answered to the demanding
spirit of the hat. In a little while this
h,tf
most gergeeusfy dressed, and possessed
with the desire to sin the height Of the
fashion. It came to this that she had
tea gown made out Of a indow=c.lr-.
trfn--Ew.iitt lh===-te@@aanboy ant sfttern.
Solomon in all his glory would have
been ashamed of himself in her pres
ence.
But this was not all. Her DISPOSE
ton, her ideas, her whole life, were
changed. She read nothing but stories
in paper covers. In place of being
sedate and sober-minded, she was
frivolous to excess; she spent most Of
her time with women who liked to
''frivol. y She kept Lent in the most
expensive way, so as to make the inn
preston upon everybody that she was
better than the EXTREMIST kind of Lent.
From liking the sedatest company she
passed to liking the gayest society and
the most, fashionable method1of get
ting rid of her time. Nothing what
ever bad happened to her, and she is.
now an ornament society .==e6hffrffes
Dudley Warner, in Harper's Magazine.