Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-08-11
THE IDOL OF FASHION
REV. OR. TALMAos DEPICTS THE
TRAGEDY OF DRESS.


TRAGEDY OF DRESS.
He Says the Goddess OF Fashion Has ge-
Come a Rival of tho Lord of Heaven and
Eartb--An Eloquent Discourse ON the
Evils of Dress.
BROOKLYN, Aug. Brew Dr. Tall
mage, who is now in Melbourne on his
round the world tour, has chosen as the
subject Of his sermon today through the
press 'The Tragedy Of Dress, . the text
selected being Peter iii, g. a, Whose
adjoining let it not be that outward
adjoining of plating the hair and the
wearing of gold or of putting Oh Of APP
/ parel, but let it be the hidden man Of
the heart
That we should all be clad is proved
/ by the opening of the first wardrobe in
paradise, with its apparel Of dark green.
That we should all, as far as our means
allow us, be beautifully and gracefully
apparcled is proved by the fast that God
never made a wave bat he gilded it with
golden sunbeams, or a tree but he gar
landed it with blossoms, or q sky but he
studded it with stars, or allowed even the
smoke of furnace to ascend but he
columned and turreted and domcd and
scrolled it into outlines of indeacribahle
gracefulneSs. When see tho apple or
chards of the spring and the pageantry
of the antunnal forests, / come TO the
conclusion that, if nature does ever join
the church, while she may be Quaker
in the silence of her worship, she ncvor
will be Quaker in the style Of her
dress. Why the notches of fern leaf
or the stamen of a water lily? Why
when the day departs, does it let the
folding doors of heaven stay open so long
when it might go in so quickly?
One summer morning | saw am army
of million spears, each one adorned
with diamond of the first water-I
mean the grass, with the dew on it
When the prodigal came home, his IA
Their not only put coat On his back,
but jewelry on his hand. Christ wore
beard Paul, the bachelor apostle, not
afflicted with any sentimentality, adj
mired the arrangement of a woman's
hair when he said in Lis cpistle, IF a
woman have long hair, it is glory TN
to her.
There will be fashion In heaven as
on earth, but it will be different kind
of fashion. 1t viii decide the color of
the dress, and the population CT that
country, by beautiful law, VIII wear
white. | say these things as q back
ground to my sermon 10 show you that
have no prim, precise, prudish or cast
iron theories on the subject Of human
apparel. But tho goddess Of fashion has
set up her throne in this world, and at
the sound Of the timbrel5 we arc all ex-
pected to fall down and worship. The
Old and New Testament Of her Bible are
the fashion plates. Her affairs smoke
with the sacrifice Of the bodies, minds
and souls Of 10, 900 victims. IN her
temple four people stand in the organ
loft, and from thom there comes down
cold drizzle Of music, freezing on the
ears II her worshipers. This goddess
Of fashion has become q rival of tie
Lord of heaven and earth, and it IS high
time that we unlimbared our batteries
against this idolatry When come to
count the victims OF fashion, | find as
many masculine as feminine Men make
an easy tirado against woman, IS though
she were the chief worshiDsr at this
idolatrous shrine, and 10 doubt some
men i'll the more conspicuous part of the
pew have already cast glanecs at the
more retired part Of the pew. their look
a prophecy Of generous distribution.
My sermon shall be as appropriate for
one end Of the pew as fer the other
Men arc rs much tho idolators Of fash
ion as women, but they sacrifice On
different part Of the altar With men
the fashion goes to cigars and clubvooms
and yachting parties and wine suppars.
In the United States the men chew up
and smoke 500, 900, 600 worth of to-
baeco every year. That is their fashion.
In London not long ago aman died who
started i'll life with $3.50, 600, bat he ate
it all up III gluttonies, sending his
agents to all parts of the earth for some
rare delicacy for the palate, sometimes
one plato Of food costing him $500 OF
$400. He alto up his whole fortune and
had only a guinea left With that he
bought a woodcock and had il dressed
in the very best style, ate it, gave two
hours for digestion, then walked cat on
Westminster bridge and threw himself
into the Thames and died, doing on a
large scale what You and I have often
seen done on a small scale. But men do
not abstain from millinery and olabora-
ton of skirt through any superiority of
humility. 1t is only because such APP
pendages would be blockade 10 bust
ness What would sashes and trains 81
yards long do III stock market? And
yet men are the disciples Of fashion
just as much as women Some of them
wear boots so tight they can hardly
walk i'll the paths Of righteousness. And
there are men who bay expensive suits
of clothes and never pay for them, and
who go through the streets in great
stripes of color like animated checker
boards. l say these things because
want to show you that | am impartial
in my discourse, and that both sexes,
in the language Of the surrogate's office,
shall ''sharo and share alike. - As God
may help me, shall show you what are
the destroying and beautiful influences
of inordinate fashion.
The first baleful influence notice is
in fraud, illimitable and ghastly. Do
you know that Arnold Of the Revolu-
ton proposed to sell his country in or
der to get money to support his wife's
wardrobe? | declare here before God
and this people that the effort to keep
up expensive establishments in this
country is sending more business men
to temporal perdition than all other
causes combined. What was it that sent
Gilman to the penitentiary, and phila-
delphia Morton to watering Of stocks,
and the life insurance presidents to per-
jured statements about their assets, and
has completely upset our American
finances? What was it that overthrow
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