into the pulpit, and decides the gown, and the surplice, and the style
of rhetoric.

It goes into literature and arranges the binding, the type, the
illustrations of the book, and oftentimes the sentiments expressed and
the theories evolved.

Men the most independent in feeling are by it compelled to submit to
social customs. And before I stop I want to show you that fashion has
been one of the most potent of reformers, and one of the vilest of
usurpers. Sometimes it has been an angel from heaven, and at others it
has been the mother of harlots.

As the world grows better there will be as much fashion as now, but
it will be a different fashion. In the future life white robes always
have been and always will be in the fashion.

There is a great outcry against this submission to social custom,
as though any consultation of the tastes and feelings of others were
deplorable; but without it the world would have neither law, order,
civilization, nor common decency.

There has been a canonization of bluntness. There are men and women
who boast that they can tell you all they know and hear about you,
especially if it be unpleasant. Some have mistaken rough behavior for
frankness, when the two qualities do not belong to the same family.
You have no right, with your eccentricities, to crash in upon the
sensitiveness of others. There is no virtue in walking with hoofs over
fine carpets. The most jagged rock is covered with blossoming moss.
The storm that comes jarring down in thunder strews rainbow colors
upon the sky, and silvery drops on orchard and meadow.

There are men who pride themselves on their capacity to "stick"
others. They say "I have brought him down: Didn't I make him squirm!"

Others pride themselves on their outlandish apparel. They boast of
being out of the fashion. They wear a queer hat. They ride in an odd
carriage. By dint of perpetual application they would persuade the
world that they are perfectly indifferent to public opinion. They are
more proud of being "out of fashion" than others are of being in. They
are utterly and universally disagreeable. Their rough corners have
never been worn off. They prefer a hedge-hog to a lamb.

The accomplishments of life are in nowise productive of effeminacy
or enervation. Good manners and a respect for the tastes of others
is indispensable. The Good Book speaks favorably of those who are
a "_peculiar_" people; but that does not sanction the behavior of
_queer_