The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1894-08-15
THE FATALITY OF FASHION,
Talmage breaches Powerful Sermon On
the Foibles OF Fashion and Shows
Where Thousands are Wrecked
at its Shrine.

the theme of which was "The Tragedy
of Dress, ,"swas strong arraignment of
those who worship at the shrine of
fashion. He says that niuitilcdes Of
men are as amenable to the charge Of
| folly as are the women votaries.
His sermon was taken from Peter
3:3, 4, Whose adorning let it not be
......... but let it be the hidden
man of the heart"
DR.. Talmage has no "plim, prudish,
| precise, cast iron theories on the sub
ject of fashion," he recognizes the fact
that "we should all, as far as our means
allow Us, be neatly and gracefully ap-
parelled, because God never made a
wave but he gilded it with golden SUM-
beams, or sky but he studded it with
, stars, etc. Why, when the day departs,
does it let the folding doors of heaven
stay open so long, when it might 60 in
so quickly"'
IL is not grace and harmony and neat
ness, neither refined taste nor fitness
| that Mr.. Talmage animadverts upon,
in dress, but the loud and noisy, and
the blind extravaganza in dress, and
the bowling down to aud the idolatrous
worship at the altar of the false god.
Nature teaches beautiful lessons Of
adornment in tree and tuft and flower.
Why" asks the eloquent preacher,
"the stamen of the water lily and a
million spear-heads sparkling with
diamonds-I mean the grass with the
dew on it?"
But the goddess of fashion has set
up her throne in this world, and at the
sound of the timbreis we are all ex-
rected to fall down and worship. The
Old and New Testament Of her Bible
are the fashion plates. Her altars smoke
with the sacrifice of the bodies, minds
and souls Of 10000 victims. In her.
temple four people stand in the organ
loft, and from them there comes down
cold drizzle of music, freezing on the
ears of her worshlpers. This goddess
of fashion has become rival Of the
Lord of heaven and earth, and it is
high time that we unlimbered our bat-
teries against this idolatry. When I
come to count the victims of fashion, I
find as many masculine as feminine.
Men, make an easy TRADE against
woman, as though she were the chief
worshiper at this idolatrous shrine, and
no doubt some men in the more con-
spicuous part of the pew have already
cast glances at the more retired part Of
the pew, their look prophecy of
generous distribution. Ny sermon
shall be as appropriate for one end Of
the pew as the other"
Mr.. Talmage said in substance that,
while men are as idolatrous as women,
they worship at another shrine; their
fashion goes to clubrcoms, wine sup
pers and yatchting parties; they eat,
drink and smoke up millions every
year sin the destroying and deathful
influences of inordinate fashion,"
The first baleful influence is in fraud,
1'declare here before God and this peo-
pie that the effort to keep up eXpen-
sive establishments in this country is
sending more business men to temporal
perdition than all other causes COM
bined. -. Why should I 60 to famous
defaultings to show what men will do
in order to keep up great home style
aud expensive wardrobe, when you
and know scores Of men who are put
to their wits end and are lashed from
January to December in the attempt?
-. 1t is estimated that there are ten
thousand women in New York and
Brooklyn who have expended on their
personal array $4,000 a year. What are
men to do in order to keep up such
home WardrobeS? -. They all 60 down
together-the husband to the prison,
the wife to the sewing machine, the
children to be taken care Of by those
who were called poor relations. Oh, fer
some Shakespeare to arise and write the
tragedy Of human clothes!
''Inordinate fashion is the foe of all
Christian almsgiYing. Men and women
put so much in personal display that
they often have nothing for God and
the cause Of suffering humanity. One
hundred dollars for incense to fashion;
, cents to God. We are not satisfied
with Gods tithing. We want to have
SO cents for ourselves and for God"
"1nordinate fashion distracts public
worship. What futter it makes in
church when some woman with extra
ordinary display of fashion comes in!
What distra:.tion of public worship.
Dying men and women, whose bodies
are soon to be turned into dust,
set before three worlds strutting like
peacocks, the awful question of the
souls destiny submerged by the ques-
ton of navy blue velvet and long fan