Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-01-08

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vrEfakN PrRRT BRovS.
The quesasn = sometimes asked-
usually by people past the middle age,
ho-~-er,-Sdoss II pay 20 be fashion
Hsl-7 1 suppose the answer largely do
psnds upon what one considers asa pay
ing equivalent for the many eIcrucist
ing 0utlsys that fashion demands of her
votaEiss- Il also depends largely on
ones primary surroundings, opinions,
capabilities aud tastes.
10 the woman who u, 50 70 speak, to
the manor born; whose relations,
friends, associations, are in q manner,
indigshous 20 ''our set" who married
fsorn a ball room and who has but a
pAs4ing acquaintance With her own
children, tho above query would seem
ludicrous. She would deem IL non
sense % suppose that any other kind Of
life could pay-for her aud hers. Very
likely size has queened IL for years, her
position Is secure, her children have
alwAvs had every advantage which
money could buy for them, thus ensbl-
tAg her 10 shirk her mothsrly response
biiities and keep herself before her own
small. rosebud world She Is thor
oughIy At home there, and would be so
nowhers else She naturally expects
her daughters 10 "go and do likewise.
Eow could they do otherwise and be
A.'r children2
BesIdes. in "our set, she Is consider
I'd Indispensable. She lends her inhu-
euce and opinions 10 the maintenance
Of It's peculiar glories, and its exclusive
ness She Is usually In state Of dis
Approbttivc umRZsmeut over our crude
American WAYS, and Is corresponding
" imitation OF foreign manners and
forms She knows everybody who Is
worth knowing, and II adroItly uucon-
sCious OF every one whom Is Is not
strictly good form" u recognize.
Yet she is sly with her knowledge, and
careful not 10 be too loudly heard, for
While she cares nothing for the million
outside tine pile, she wishes 10 hurt no
one wh1ss feelings II IA ght be socially
uuplsssuut to hurt
K. t8 the husband If this reiguiug
butterfly tine father Of her children, he
too. though lu "a different way, usually
has optimistic. UpIuoLs, concerning fash
iouahIe htr. II paws him, Rs kind Of
reflected lu-tsr Ia which he carelessly
bali. between intervals OF business or
grus.er pleasures OF course he u rich,
and 2 hi. money Is inherited, his sue
cess I- greater than n he hal mads II
IIus.l He has his club, his bus ness,
LI- SPORTING rerrettlpu-, his satellites,
Bu hfs uau masculine sphere Of pre-
tending tu Dos % shining light, IN So
ri.ty. With regard 20 home h;e. II Il
doubtful % Ie Srow- what n means
lie and lIs wife dwell under the anne
roof when there Is no other pla-e for
them 90 go, much like two old friends
who bore each other, but are too polite
- openly announce the fact, except by
= gentle mir Of mutual suffrrtnce.
They are too Well bred to quarrel, or
even o. ho unhappy. To feel strongly
sRv0r- Of vgIgaTIty, and they have be-
come adopts Iu the art Of polite IN diff
ference, aud tu their own world are
known us iullv entertainers and charm
ing hosts
When the children Of these parents
grow up. every avenue 10 "A mi.ar life
opens b fore them as easily a. II rigur-
uusly excludes every other outlet When
they are of ordinary soc al metal, they
fall into these purple hued ways, and
are humanity stihcl as decoroUsly and
surely as their best friends could wish.
To ask these, or any OF their kind, II a
fashionable life pays, would be almost
superrru Eatorv. Their only doub >
would be- founded upon weakness of IN
come, or the status Of ones grandfather.
So much for the opinion Of the clas-
SIC four hundred, and their multi Ijiu-
GUS hangers on. But when We come to
the ordinary AmericIn woman who il
neither rich nor poor-neither blue
blooded nor Of her parentuge ashamed
when We come To the daughters
wives, and mothers Of nine out Of every
ten American men, who in building up
themselves, have made their country
great the sphere Of exception widens.
Socially w are CrcgurIuus, we need
the stimulation Of intercourse with our
kind, and without 1t We drooP and die,
OF lyuCsfs ourselves into an unttness
for life that is hardly human. But
when those instincts can only be graft
fed at uu expense of twenty thousand
year. uud 10y "a continuous strain Of
Of sterrutypci self repression, also
by duuutIuualiziug our tastes and opel-
ing forms that derive their popular ty
chiefly through the contempt which
they breed for the very things which
have made us respected throughout the
eartL-thcu 90 US, who are of the mass
and million, come doubt and distrust.
We find on every hand that fashion
grows IN eNuctlon ProportionRlly as We
oter 10 euslave ourselves. Society,
instead Of beng our pleasure. our re-
taxation from the stcrucr tolls of life,
becomes "A labyrinth from which we
cannot credItably retreat, vet IN which
We continually lose ourselves in cruel
grnsping after certain apples Of Sodom
which only q few may taste and not find
them ashes