t an inward and real change; not to give them new titles and
an artificial rank, but substantial improvements and real claims to
respect. I have no wish to dress them from a Parisian tailor's shop, or
to teach them manners from a dancing-school. I have no desire to see
them, at the end of the day, doff their working dress, that they may play
a part in richly attired circles. I have no desire that they should be
admitted to luxurious feasts, or should get a taste for gorgeous
upholstery. There is nothing cruel in the necessity which sentences the
multitude of men to eat, dress, and lodge plainly and simply, especially
where the sentence is executed so mildly as in this country. In this
country, where the demand for labor is seldom interrupted, and the
openings for enterprise are numerous beyond precedent, the laboring
class, with few exceptions, may well be satisfied with their
accommodations. Very many of them need nothing but a higher taste for
beauty, order, and neatness, to give an air of refinement and grace as
well as comfort to their establishments. In this country, the mass of
laborers have their share of outward good. Their food, abundant and
healthful, seasoned with the appetite which labor gives, is, on the
whole, sweeter as well as healthier than the elaborate luxuries of the
prosperous; and their sleep is sounder and more refreshing than falls to
the lot of the less employed. Were it a possible thing, I should be
sorry to see them turned into men and women of fashion. Fashion is a
poor vocation. Its creed, that idleness is a privilege, and work a
disgrace, is among the deadliest errors. Without depth of thought, or
earnestness of feeling, or strength of purpose, living an unreal life,
sacrificing substance to show, substituting the factitious for the
natural, mistaking a crowd for society, finding its chief pleasure in
ridicule, and exhausting its ingenuity in expedients for killing time,
fashion is among the last influences under which a human being, who
respects himself or who comprehends the great end of life, would desire
to be placed. I use strong language, because I would combat the
disposition, too common in the laboring mass, to regard what is called
the upper class with envy or admiration. This disposition manifests
itself among them in various forms. Thus, when one of their number
prospers he is apt to forget his old acquaintance, and to work his way,
if possible, into a more fashionab