The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-08-11

ordinary display Of fashion m In.
What n love of a bonnet" says some
one. what a perfect fright" say five
hundred. For the most mcrciless crit
les in the world are fashion critics.
Men and women with souls TO be saved
passing the hour in wondering where
that man got his cravat, or what store
that woman patronizes. In many OF
IL churches the preliminary exercises
are taken up with the discussion of
w~ardrubes. 1t is pitiable. Is it not
wonderful that the Lord does not strike
the meeting houses with lightning at
that distraction of public worship!
Dying men and women, whose bodies
are soon To be turned int dust, vet be-
fore three worlds strutting like pea
cocks, the awful question of the souls
destiny submerged by the question of
navy-blue velvet and long fan-trained
skirt, long enough to drag up the
church aisle, the husbands store, Of
flee, shop, factory, fortune, and the
admiration of half the people in h
building. Men and women come late
to church to show their clothes. Peo-
pie sitting down in the pew or taking
up a hymn book, all absorbed at the
same time in personal array, to sing:
Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings.
Thy better portion trace;
Rise from transitory things,
Toward Heaven. thy native place!
adopt the Episcopalian prayer and
say: Good Lord, deliver us.'
Insatiate fashion also belittles the
intellect. Our minds are enlarged or
they are dwindled just in proportion to
the Importance of the subject On which
we constantly dwell. Can you imagine
anything more dwarting to the human
intellect than the study of fashion? l
see men on the street who, Judging
from their elaboration, l think must
have taken W. hours to arrange
their apparel. After a few years
of that kind of absorption. which
one Of McAllister's magifying
glasses will be powerful enough to
make the mans character visible?
Yet, my friends, l have given you
only the milder phase of this evil. 1t
shuts a great multitude out of Heaven.
The first peal of thunder that shook
Sinai declared: Thou shalt have no
other God before me-" and you will
have to choose between the goddess Of
fashion and the Christian God. There
are "a great many seats in Heaven, and
they r oil Easy seats, but not one
seat for the devotee Of fashion.
Heaven is for meek and quiet spirits.
Heaven is for those who think more of
their souls Than of their bodies. Heaven
is for those who have more joy in
Christian charity than in dry goods
religion. Why, if you with your
idolatry Of fashion should somehow
get into Heaven, you would be for put.
ting a French roof on the house OF
many mansions" Give up this idol.
airy of fashion, or give up Heaven.
What would you do standing beside the
Countess of Huntington, whose joy II
was to build chapels for the poor, OF
with that Christian woman Of Boston,
who fed 800 children of the street al
Faneuil hall on New Years day, Civ
ing out as a sort of dOxology at the end
of the meeting a pair of shoes to each
one of them; or those Decreases of IN cd
ern society who have consecratet
their needles to the Lord. and who
will get eternal reward for every
stitch they take. Oh! mer
and women, give up the idolatry O
fashion. The rivalries and competi
tions of such life are a stupendou'
wretchedness. You will always fine
some one with brighter array and will
more palatial residence, and with Law
ender kid gloves that make a tighte
fit. And if you buy this thing ant
wear it you will wish you had bough
something else and worn it. And tn,
frets of such a life will bring tn,
crows feet to your temples before the,
are due, and when you come to die 20,
will have a miserable time. I hav'
seen men and women of fashion
die, and | never saw one o
} them die well. The trapping
OF, there they lay on the tumble'
pillow, and there were just two thing
' that bothered them-a wasted life An,
: q coming eternity. could not pacif,
! them, for their body, mind and soul ha,
! been exhausted in the worship of fash
I ion, and they could not appreciate tn
gospel. When / knelt by their bed
: side they were mumbling out their re
grets and saying: ''Oh God! o God!
Their garments hung in the wardrobs
+ never again to be seen by them. With
:. ou' any eNcePtno"' JAR asmy me"
= Dry serves me- they aieu without mop
y ana went iht' eternity unpreparea'
= The most ghastlg death-beds o
L earth are, the one where u man oies {
5 delirium tremens, n the other wher
n % woman dies after having sacrifice
e all her faculties of body, mind an
= soul IN the worship OF ashion. M
iriehus' we must appear Juogmei
to answer Tor what we nave worn o
u gu poales as wen Is Ior what rePen
ances we nave exercised Win on
souls. on that DAY l see comm
in, Beau Brummel OF h la
N century, without his cloak, lii
which all England got a cloal
E. and without his cane. like which a
Epolond got n cane. without a snut
e - a. g. % go n.u;o,I
i - bp H.. Fl aIs.a =.
'" e9 a
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