The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1889-08-01
FICTITIOUS VALUES.

There never has been time when
things were correctly valued.
No mat Ur woman lives, who IL not
guilty of sometimes valuing things In.
correctly; 1t Is . part of our imperfect
nature, and we cannot avoid SO doing.
In our earlier childhood we valued
those things that were bright and at.
fractive looking and did not care for
hose which were dull and unattract.
I've, although the latter were often the
more useful to us The simple natives
df Africa, and many other places, trade
aephants' tusks and other valuable ar.
tcles for cheap lOokiDg.glasses or for
bright and gaudy In appear.
ance. In this respect we resemble
them, we value things too much by
their bright appearances.
Ohe Of the noticeable things upon
which we set fictitious value Is riches.
We all bow to riches. Wealth Is our
one great desire and 1t Is for this that
we are always striving. We envy the
rich and think that they must necessa-
rily be happy. In this we are mista-
ken /; for some of the wealthiest men
are the most miserable. Crcesus, with
all his world of wealth, was not half so
happy as some poor man who knows
he has done his duty. 1t is pleasant to
have everything We want, as far as
money can buy, and 1t is often very
hard to deny ourselves that which can
be thus obtained; but then we depend
too much upon riches for happiness.
One can be happy even II he il poor, r,and
he makes himself miserable only, in
longing for what he can not have.
Another thing fictitiously valued is
dress. 1t should be the object Of every
person to appear well and they who can
afford to dress themselves richly have
the right to do so; there can be no
possible harm in so doing; but there
are persons who make dress their sole
object. They think of it, talk of 1t,
and perhaps even dream of it. The
women are generally accused of this.
It Is true that those of our sex devote
much of their time aud attention to
dress hut when we see young man
stand before n looking-glass for a half
hour trying to get his hair parted ex-
actly In the middle, waxing his nous.
tache to the smallest possible end, an
eye-glass In one eye, trousers and cane
of immense size, and trying his best to
look "pahticulahly chawming, you
know" We somehow get the impress
sion that the women are not the only
ones who devote much of their time to
dress. Some persons cannot be accus-
ed of Over-attentiOn to dress, i'm fact,
they are quite careless in their attire,
and an excess in this direction Is quite
as bad, If not worse, than in the for
mer.
Then there is fashion, that we all es-
innate too highly. Never, in all the
ages of history, did people have to en-.
dure so much for the sake of fashion,
as in the nineteenth century. The
fashionable people OF to day must rush
of to the seaside every summer, where
there are crowded hotels, dance in o
hot ballroom the better part of the
night, promenade or ride about the
streets attired In the latest fashion, and
wear society smile constantly.
Fashion rules us all. a leader Of
fashion has but to wear bonnet or
gown to have us all adopt 1t. No mat
ter what may be the shape of the bon
net or the color of the gown. In this
way trains increase and diminish in
size, hats expand and contract in hrim,
and rise and fall in crown, colors blush
and turn pale, and coat collars rise and
fall. Holland says, "The freaks of
fashion often make us all ridiculous.
But because they make us all ridicu-
lous there are none left to laugh at us,
SO we don't care" Often we admire a
style just because it Ia fashionable,
while II 1t were not for this, we would
laugh at 1t. 1t takes person of
means to follow all the customs of
fashion. Yet we often see persons who
have not the means, attempting to fol-
low these customs, and, in consequence,
they must give up many home com.
forts but they will sacrifice these as
long as they can be considered In the
fashion.
Work, too, Is often wrongly valued.
There are persons who consider 1t a
disgrace to do hard work. They will
do work for which they receive q small
salary only, and which Is harder In
some respects than the work which
they are ashamed to do, all because
they are afraid of what the world will
say.
This might do, II 1t were not for the
fact that the harder work must be
done. 1t Is well enough to have rich
people who do not work, and 1t is nee.
essary that we should have philoso-
pliers and inventors. 1t is to the
philosophers and inventors that all the
innumerable and marvellous improve.
ments are due. But, while It is neces.
sary for our improvement that we
should have these men, 1t is equally
imperative that we should have per-
sons to do the harder work, and to
carry out the plans OF the former. We
can not all be philosophers and inven-
tors we must have masons, engineers,
blacksmiths and farmers. or what
benefit would the philosophers and In.
ventors be, II there were not persons to
carry out their plans? Philosophy in
itself can not build ships, locomotives,
or houses. 1t takes hard work to do
this, and why then, when we see that
this is necessary, are we ashamed of 1t
Our fathers were not ashamed to work
and why should we be-? Are we any
better than they? What would our
country be to day II they had been
to work? 1t Is not what we
do, but how we do II that brings us
fame. Pope has truly said,
"Honor and fame from no condition rise,
A IL