ressing according to our means and station.

There is an impression in the minds of some persons, that fine
feathers make fine birds, and that the world in general thinks more
or less of them according to the dress they wear. Therefore, in
order that they may impose upon their neighbours by their outward
appearance, and, as children say, make-believe that they are richer
than they really are, they dress beyond their means, and, at the cost
of much privation of even the necessaries of life, make a display
which they are not warranted in making. We have known those who have
pinched themselves till they have brought on actual illness, or have
laid the foundation of a fatal disease, in order that they might dress
themselves in a style beyond their position in life. In France this is
often the case. A lady who, in her ordinary attire, is as slovenly
and as shabbily dressed as almost the very beggar in the street, will
appear at some evening party most exquisitely dressed, and will carry
on her back the savings acquired by months and years of penurious
self-denial.

We respect those who struggle hard to maintain their hereditary
position, and reverence within certain limits the spirit of endurance
which bears in privacy the changes of fortune in order to keep up a
becoming appearance in the eyes of the world. But we have no sympathy
for those who, having no such excuse, having no high lineage, and to
whom fortune has not been unkind, stint and screw that they may impose
upon their neighbours with the notion that they are better off than
they really are,--better off in money, and better off in position.
Imposture of this kind we confess we have no patience for. We are very
intolerant of it. It is a vulgarity which, wherever it may be found,
is most offensive. We go even further still, and are disposed to blame
all who, whatever their circumstances or condition may have been or
may be, dress beyond their means. It is possible that some relics of
past grandeur may yet remain to be worn on state occasions. With
that no one can quarrel; but it is a mistake to make great and
unwarrantable sacrifices in order to replenish the exhausted wardrobe
on its former scale of magnificence. It is better far to accept fate,
to comply with the inevitable, and not waste time and strength in
fighting against the iron gates of destiny. No one, whose esteem is
worth having, will respect us less because we dress according to our
means, even if tho