Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-03

1t is
A religion just to apporton our thought
and pocketbook just to give due need to
the manifold phases of our natures.
We have some idea of our income even If
it is not regular, and have some idea
OF the relative values of things.
Certainly We DO not place body above
our mind So we will not spend nine-tenths
of our income on the body. We will recog-
nize that IL is subordinate, and We will
gauge our expenditures proportionately.
Food is simple-we may not know it, but
1t is We can get out of the habit of put
ting much money and time into food. Our
money and thought do not belong there.
They belong to greater things
We can get the best foods the cheapest.
We can drop the expensive foods from our
list. We can gladly content ourselves with
the cheaper foods, which are oftentmes
purer and more wholesome.
Then We can limit our dress-decline to
think of 1t all the time. think of it. let US
say, twice a year, and the rest of the time
forget it. except to keep patched. and but
toned. and hooked. and darned; hair beau
tifully combed and fingers manicured.
Incomes vary so. the amounts must vary.
But the necessities for neatneSS, for whole
someness are small
1t Is Easy
With all the alurements of city shops to
spend. and spend. and spend in them hours
and gold. and Yet more golden thought. 1t
is easy to get the habit of watching for all
the latest decoys in dressing.
But for the most part such gold, and
thought and time are thriftlessly spent.
Fashion wears out more clothes than the
man" We can be dressed just as comforta
priately by giving less heed to the subject
than by continually harping upon it-far
more appropriately. for many of us go into
debt for our clothes sake. and dress is alto
gether out of taste when it is unpaid for,
be it's fashion what it will.
And even within the limits of pocketbooks
dress can be out of the taste from the finan-
cial viewpoint. We may be paying for 1t
with money that would far better go else
where.
Clothes, shelter food, these primal bodily
needs can engage all our thought, time,
money.
Yet perhaps they should take a secondary
place. ADJUSTMENTS. culture. travel. music.
art philanthropy. There are thousand
higher avenues of expression for those who
and wisely leave a residue for higher
things.
Speak ABOUT renounclns the Worlu- not ue-
spsing the world, but renouncing. If
women would but renounce some fraction of
their fashions. See that there is something
higher than fashions, more delightful than
fashions, more worth while than fashions.
We can spend million dollars every year
on clothes if we WILL So what is a few hum
dred or a thousand in comparison; we can
put millions in a dress, perhaps million in
food There is almost, there is practically
no bound to money possibilities on just
these physical needs. All our time, thought,
money can go to them. yet leave our higher
selves unhoused. unfed, naked.
II this higher nature then is TO receive
attention il is by renouncing the allurements
of the lower nature and by cultivating the
things that are more worth while. Saint
Augustine said that if we cultivated the
IuxIIries we would find no limit to eXpendi-