The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-08-08

/ meres of a thousand dollars each are not
| rare on Broadway. II is estimated that
| there are 10000 women in these TWO
| cities who have expended on their per-
/ sOnaI array $4,000 year.
! What are men 10 do in order TO keep
up such home wardrobes? Steal That
/ is the only respectable thing they can
| do. During the last fifteen years there
| have been innumersble fine businesses
| shipWrecked on the wardrobe. The
| temptation comes in this way: man
| thinks more of his family chan OF all the
/ world outside, and If they spend the
evening in describing to him the superior
| wardrobe Of the family across the street,
! that they cannot bear the sight of, the
man is thrown on his gallantry ana on
/ his pride of family and without translat-
/ ing his feelings into plain language he
! goes into extortion and issuing of false
| stock and skillful penmanship in writing
! somebody else's name at the foot OF a
| promissory note, and they all go 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, for some new
| Shakespeare to arise and write the
/ tragedy Of human clothes!
| Will you forgive me If say in tersest
/ shape possible that some OF the men
/ have to forge and to perjure and to
i swind1e to pay for their wives dresses2
| / will say t whether YOU forgive me or
not.
/
Again, inordnate fashion is the foe of
| all Christian almsgiving. Men and wom-
| en- put so much in personal display that
they often have nothing for God and
the cause Of suffering humanity. a
| Christian man cracking his Palais Royal
| glove across the back by shutting up his
| hand to hide the cent he puts into the
| poor-box. \ Christian woman at the
| story Of the HOttentOts, crying cOpiOus
| tears into a twenty-fve-dollar handker-
| chief and then giving a 2-cent piece TO
! the collection. thrusting it under the
| bills so people Will not know but 1t was
n ten-dollar goldpiece. One hundred dol
] lars for incense to fashion; 2 cents for
| God. God gives us 90 cents out OF every
| dollar The other 10 cents by command
! Of His bible belong to him. Is not God
/ liberal according TO His tithing system
] laid down I'm the old testament? Is not
| God liberal i'm giving us 30 cents out OF
/ dollar when he takes but 10? We do
| not like that. We want to have 80 cents
! for ourselves and 1 for God
! Now. | would great deal rather steal
! 10 cents from you than from God.
! think one reason why a great many peo-
/ pie do not get along I'm worldly accumu-
| latiOn faster Is because they do not oh
| serve this divine rule. God says well.
| II that man Is not satisfied with 30 cents
! Of q dollar, then i will take the whole
! dollar. and 1 will give 70 90 the man or
/ woman who Is honest with me-" The
| greatest obstacle 10 charity IN the Chris
tian church today is the fact that men
| eNpend SO much money on their table,
/ and women so much on their dress. they
| have got nothing left for the work OF
| God and the worlds betterment. In my
| first settlement at Belleville. n. j.. the
| cause Of missions was being presented
one Sabbath. and a plea for the charity
| OF the people was being made, when an
| old Christian man In the audience lost
| his balance and said right out In the
| midst Of the sermon, MIR. Talmage, how
are we to give literally 10 these grand
! and glorious causes when our families
| dress az they do?" / did not answer
| that question. 1t was the only time I'm
my life when / had nothing to say.
How Fashion DIstractS worship.
| Again, iuordnatc fashion Is distraction
10 public worship. You know very we'll
| there are a good many people who come
to church just as they go 10 the races
20 see who VIII come out first What
| nutter it makes In church when some
/ woman with extraordinary display OF
| fashion comes ini What a love OF a
| bonnetr says some one. what n fer-
| feet fright1' say five hundred. For the
| most merCiless critics I'm the world are
| fashion critics. Men and women with
| souls 10 he saved passing the hour i'm
wondering where that man got his cravat
| or what store that woman patronizes. In
| many Of our churches the preliminary
exercises are taken up with the discus
| sion OF wardrOhes. IT Is pitiable. Is 10
| not wonderful that the Lord does lot
/ strike the meeting-houses with Lightning
What distraction of public worship! py-
| ing men and women, whose bodies are
/ soon TO be turned into dust yet before
three worlds struttlng like peacocks the
! awful question Of the souls destiny sub
merged by the question OF navy blue
/ velvet and long fan train skirt. lorg
/ enough 70 drag mp The church aisle. the
/ husbands store. office, shop factory.
| fortune and the admiration Of half the
| people In the building. Men and wOm-
| en- come late to church 10 show their
/ clothes People sitting down In pew
| or taking up a hymnbook, 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
| adopt the episcopalian prayer and
| say, Good Lord. deliver u.s.
| InsatLate fashion also belittles the in
| tellect. our minds are enlarged or they
| dwindle just I'm proportion TO the inn
| portance OF the subject on which we
| constantly dwell Can YOU imagine any
| thing more dwarfing to the human in
| tellect than the study Of fashion? / see
| men on the street who. judging from
| their elaboration, / think must have
taken two hours to arrange their ZAP
parel After few years OF that kind OF
| absorption. which one Of McAllis.er's
| magnifying glasses will be powerful
| enough 20 make the mans character VS.
ible? They all land in idiocy. / have
seen men at the summering watering
| places through fashion the mere wreck
| OF what they once We're. Sallow Of check.
| Meager OF limb. Hollow at the chest
| Showing animation save in
| rushing across u room to pick
up a lady's fan. Simpering along
| the Corridors the same cOmpli-
ments they simpered twenty years ago.
| A New York lawyer at the United States
| hotel Saratoga, within our hearing,
| rushed across a room to say to a sensi-
| BILE woman you are as sweet as
| peaches!' The fools of fashion are
| myriad Fashion not only destroys the
body, but It makes idiotic the intellect
4 Wasted Life.
Yet, my friends. 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 be-
tween the goddess OF fashion and the
| Christian God. There are great many
seats in heaven. and they are all easy
seats. but not one seat for the devotee Of
| fashion. Heaven is for meek and quiet
spirits Heaven is for those who think