ey do, as a rule,
measure the sense and self-respect of the wearer; and aspirants to
success should be as careful in choosing their dress as their
companions, for the old adage: "Tell me thy company and I will tell
thee what thou art," is offset by this wise saying of some philosopher
of the commonplace: "Show me all the dresses a woman has worn in the
course of her life, and I will write you her biography."

"How exquisitely absurd it is," says Sydney Smith, "to teach a girl
that beauty is of no value, dress of no use. Beauty is of value. Her
whole prospect and happiness in life may often depend upon a new gown
or a becoming bonnet. If she has five grains of common sense, she will
find this out. The great thing is to teach her their proper value."

It is true that clothes do not make the man, but they have a much
larger influence on man's life than we are wont to attribute to them.
Prentice Mulford declares dress to be one of the avenues for the
spiritualization of the race. This is not an extravagant statement,
when we remember what an effect clothes have in inciting to personal
cleanliness. Let a woman, for instance, don an old soiled or worn
wrapper, and it will have the effect of making her indifferent as to
whether her hair is frowsy or in curl papers. It does not matter
whether her face or hands are clean or not, or what sort of slipshod
shoes she wears, for "anything," she argues, "is good enough to go with
this old wrapper." Her walk, her manner, the general trend of her
feelings, will in some subtle way be dominated by the old wrapper.
Suppose she changes,--puts on a dainty muslin garment instead; how
different her looks and acts! Her hair must be becomingly arranged, so
as not to be at odds with her dress. Her face and hands and finger
nails must be spotless as the muslin which surrounds them. The
down-at-heel old shoes are exchanged for suitable slippers. Her mind
runs along new channels. She has much more respect for the wearer of
the new, clean wrapper than for the wearer of the old, soiled one.
"Would you change the current of your thoughts? Change your raiment,
and you will at once feel the effect." Even so great an authority as
Buffon, the naturalist and philosopher, testifies to the influence of
dress on thought. He declared himself utterly incapable of thinking to
good purpose except in full court dress. This he always put on before
entering his study, not even omitting his sword.