Most behave as if they
believed that
their prospects for life
would be ruined if they should do it.
it would be easier for
them to hobble to town with a broken
leg than with a broken
pantaloon. Often if an accident hap-
pens to a gentleman's
legs, they can be mended; but if a
similar accident happens
to the legs of his pantaloons, there
is no help for it; for
he considers, not what is truly respect-
able, but what is
respected. We know but few men, a great
many coats and breeches.
Dress a scarecrow in your last
shift, you standing shiftless by, who would not
soonest salute
the scarecrow? Passing a cornfield the other day, close by a
hat and coat on a stake,
I recognized the owner of the farm.
He was only a little
more weather-beaten than when J saw
him last. I have heard of a dog that barked at every stranger
who approached his
master's premises with clothes on, but
was easily quieted by a
naked thief. It is an interesting
ques-
tion how far men would
retain their relative rank if they
were divested of their
clothes. Could you, in such a case, tell
surely of any company of
civilized men which belonged to
the most respected
class? When Madam Pfeiffer, in her ad-
venturous travels round
the world, from east to west, had
got so near home as
Asiatic Russia, she says that she felt the
necessity of wearing
other than a travelling dress, when she
went to meet the
authorities, for she "was now in
a civilized
country, where . . .
people are judged of by their clothes."
Even in our democratic New
England towns the accidental
possession of wealth, and
its manifestation in dress and
equipage alone, obtain for
the possessor almost universal
respect. But they who
yield such respect, numerous as they
are, are so far heathen,
and need to have a missionary sent to
them. Beside, clothes
introduced sewing, a kind of work
which you may call
endless; a woman's dress, at least, is
never done.
A man who has at length
found something to do will not
need 10 get a new suit
to do it in; for him the old will do,
that has lain dusty in
the garret for an indeterminate period.
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ