The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1897-09-11

serve the extent to which this idle quail
ity is cultivated by almost all classes of
mankind; civilized and uncivilized, high
and low, rich aud poor, learned and IL
literate. The naked savage who car
display some paltrv object coveted by
others, struts as though he were lord of
the universe. We laugh at the ridicul
BUSINESS of his vanity. Yet in thous
and ways our own airs and Alterations
are equally absurd. We pride ourselves
upon SO many good things which are
either not worth possessing, or, if they
are, were not obtained by any merit of
our own. stars and garters, ribbons and
decorations, are not to be despised when
they have been won by personal valor
or nobility of conduct. They are then
tie outward and visible signs Of an in
ward and spiritual worthiness. But he
who derived his orders or titles from
the merits of another, without coming
up to the standard Of the original, decks
himself IN borrowed plumes 10 which
be has no moral right. He resembles a
clown CARRIED in the mantle Of plIiloso-
ply, or pigmy attempting to bear the
burden of an Atlas. But ever worse
are they who have obtained their dis
tInctions by fraud. treachery, vice, or
cruelty; the mimons Of tyrants, the be-
trayers of the people, the oppressors Of
the people.
We do we'll to have what IS called "a
proper pride" to resi- eGt ourselves and
to be jealous of our reputation, because
this conduces to rectltude OF conduct.
But we should beware Of being bitten
by vanity. When once its poison en-
ters the soul, there is no saying to what
lengths of folly we may be eventually
urged. The servant girl will ape her
mistress, her mistress the next III rank,
and so on, al adfinitum.
The excessive love Of dress is pesti-
lent vanity, and goes far to demorallze
| both sexes. 1t is, however, peculiarly
dangerous to women. TO dress modestly,
| or even well, SO that it be within our
4 adorn ourselves beyond this point, or to
1 dress cxtravagantly, is the sure mark of
/ 4 vein mind.
low many deluded woman has
! paWned her Virtue-a WOman's nobcst
| jewel-for some CawL out of gold
smiths shop window. How many a
Young and inexperienced girl has been
/ led astray by q passion for SNOWY dress.
! Eve is said to have been tempted
| through an apple. Her daughters are
tempted by rings, triElets, and fine
clothing, and wear in public the price
| of their private dishonor.
If We could only recognize our true
wants, perceiving what is really advan-
! tageous, we should avoid much heart
burning and many useless strainings.
! Happiness and peace of mind come
needed to satisfy actual requirements,
\ weIl-ordered home; good, plain food
| intelligent surroundings; simple recrea-
tons, and modest and wOinanlv de-
meanour, would do well to carry ali
through life with domestic happiness
and public esteem.
But we are not content with these
solid and permanent blessings. Ou1
dress must be more expensive, our ser
| wants more numerous, our euqipages
more striking, our houses larger, and
cur furnitute more costly, than those oil
our neighbors. With the humber in
toiing for that which profteth them
not Husbands and wives see little q
OF each other. Parents and children arr
often barely acquainted, and frequently
although i'll the same house, do not
meet from weeks end to weeks end
| Either the struggles to live or the
promptings of ambitious vanity keep
the fathers working from early till late
Thus Their lives pass away unrelieved
by the true joys of existence, and I'M,
sweetened by necessary leisure. Vel
may such say, in the words of the WIS
dom Of Solomon: What hath pride
profted us? Or what good hath riches
with our Wanting brought US? All these
things are passed away like a shadow
and us post that hasteth by; and as /;
ship that passeth over the waves of the
water, which when it is gone by, the
trace thereof cannot be found, neither
the pathway of the keel in the waves"