The morning call., 1893-08-27
THE TAILOR AND THE CLOTH.


Does the tailor make the manP As
suredly not.
There are exceptions to this in oil walks
of life save one. and that one is the clergy.
There are men VINO owe most of all that
Is good in them or a bout them to the tailor
as there are regular verbs with irregular
cases Still, the exceptions are not nu-
merous. leaving the dudes out Of the count.
And there is one profession where the
tailor is nil. True. clergymen may be we'll
dressed, often are, forsOoth; but the gar
ments they wear are so entirely disasso-
cated from their lives and their thoughts
that here, if anywhere on earth, the tailor
is powerless to make or mar the man.
There are striking examples OF this
truth, as you can see in the instances
herein cited. The tailor does not make
the cleric-cannot make him. Conformity
the tailor's absence affects not the mind
nor the life of the earnest divine.
And these examples prove it,
Here are clergymen who dress fastid-
ously and even to the height OF the pre-
Vaillng modes Read their lives and you
Will see they are men of great power, men
OF eioquence, men of culture and learning,
men sincere and successful in their call
Ing
Here. too, are divines more devout than
IaStldious. more pious than neat and care
1ul IN their dress. Are they less success
tul In their calling? Are they men of less
power, of less earnestnesS. or less culture
and learning? 1t is not so.
'As rule, pastors expect clerical dis.
count on their clothes" saws a leading
merchant tailor of this city, land in order
10 gel this they have to club together and
send East for their clothes"
Well, why not? Most men are willing
to save money when they can and where
they may So long as the clothes keep
the body warm and please the eyes of
their wearer who is to criticize the men of
the cloth for purchasing their garments
where they will?
And. perchance, the money thus saved
goes to swell the contributions to the
Door-bOx; goes to buy medicines for the
sick widow In the back street or food for
the babes OF poverty in the rear alley.
CleTgymen have been known to do these
things. 1t is part of their calling.
And the clothes that keep warm. partly
or entirely, the bodies of men devoted 10
these and other holy things may be of in
terest to the student OF human nature, but
are certainly not legitimate subjects for
hypercritical criticism.
That preacher dresses well or i'll is not
a matter for criticism or praise. 1t is,
however, matter of fact. More, it IS an
Interesting fact to one who would study
the causes and mainsprings of human
action.
Do the clothes make the man?
In measure. perhaps, some men. With
the clergy the question is not so easily an
swered and would be better put this way:
Does the man make the clothes?
In sense he does. And in a larger and
truer sense is his true Of the clergy than
Of any other profession. And the proof OF
the assertion is found amply in the follow
Ing instances. They are but isolated cases,
yet not selected at random. They are
types of the classes Of men they tell OF and
describe. Perhaps the descriptions are
not entirely complete. But they are not
lacking in POINTS essential TO the scientific
argument under discussion