Following the Fashions
"What is this?" asked Henry Grove of his sister Mary, lifting, as hespoke, a print from the centre-table."A fashion plate," was the quiet reply."A fashion plate? What in the name of wonder, are you doing with afashion plate?""To see what the fashions are.""And what then?""To follow them, of course.""Mary, is it possible you are so weak? I thought better of mysister.""Explain yourself, Mr. Censor," replied Mary with an arch look, anda manner perfectly self-possessed."There is nothing I despise so much as a heartless woman offashion.""Such an individual is certainly, not much to be admired, Henry. Butthere is a vast difference you must recollect, between a lady whoregards the prevailing mode of dress and a heartless woman, be sheattired in the latest style, or in the costume of the times of goodqueen Bess. A fashionably dressed woman need not, of necessity, beheartless.""O no, of course not; nor did I mean to say so. But it is verycertain, to my mind, that any one who follows the fashions cannot bevery sound in the head. And where there is not much head, it seemsto me there is never a superabundance of heart.""Quite a philosopher!""You needn't try to beat me off by ridicule, Mary. I am in earnest.""What about?""In condemning this blind slavery to fashion.""You follow the fashions.""No, Mary, I do not.""Your looks very much belie you, then.""Mary!""Nonsense! Don't look so grave. What I say is true. You follow thefashion as much as I do.""I am sure I never examined a plate of fashions in my life.""If you have not, your tailor has for you, many a time.""I don't believe a word of it. I don't have my clothes cut in theheight of the fashion. They are made plain and comfortable. There isnothing about them that is put on merely because it is fashionable.""I beg your pardon, sir.""It is a fact.""Why do you have your lappels made to roll three button-holesinstead of two. There's father's old coat, made, I don't know when,that roll but two.""Because, I suppose, its now the fash--""Ah, exactly! Didn't I get you there nicely?""No, but Mary, that's the tailor's business, not mine.""Of course,--you trust to him to make you clothes according to thefashion, while I choose to see if the fashions are just such assuits my stature, shape, and complexion, that I may adopt themfullly, or deviate from them in a just and rational manner. So thereis this difference between us; you follow the fashions blindly, andI with judgment and discrimination!""Indeed, Mary, you are too bad.""Do I speak anything but the truth?""I should be very sorry, indeed, if your deductions were true inregard to my following the fashions so blindly, if indeed at all.""But don't you follow them?""I never think about them.""If you don't, somehow or other, you manage to be always about evenwith the prevailing modes. I don't see any difference between yourdress and that of other young men.""I don't care a fig for the fashions, Mary!" rejoined Henry,speaking with some warmth."So you say.""And so I mean.""Then why do you wear fashionable clothes?""I don't wear fashionable clothes--that is--I----""You have figured silk or cut velvet buttons, on your coat, Ibelieve. Let me see? Yes. Now, lasting buttons are more durable, andI remember very well when you wore them. But they are out offashion! And here is your collar turned down over your black satinstock, (where, by the by, have all the white cravats gone, that werea few years ago so fashionable?) as smooth as a puritan's! Don't youremember how much trouble you used to have, sometimes, to get yourcollar to stand up just so? Ah, brother, you are an incorrigiblefollower of the fashions!""But, Mary, it is a great deal less trouble to turn the collar overthe stock.""I know it is, now that it is fashionable to do so.""It is, though, in fact.""Really?""Yes, really.""But when it was fashionable to have the collar standing, you werevery willing to take the trouble.""You would not have me affect singularity, sister?""Me? No, indeed! I would have you continue to follow the fashions asyou are now doing. I would have you dress like other people. Andthere is one other thing that I would like to see in you.""What is that.""I would like to see you willing to allow me the same privilege.""You have managed your case so ingeniously, Mary," her brother nowsaid, "as to have beaten me in argument, though I am very sure thatI am right, and you in error, in regard to the general principle. Ihold it to be morally wrong to follow the fashions. They areunreasonable and arbitrary in their requirements, and it is aspecies of miserable folly, to be led about by them. I haveconversed a good deal with old aunt Abigail on the subject, and sheperfectly agrees with me. Her opinions, you can not, of course,treat with indifference?""No, not my aunt's. But for all that, I do not think that either sheor uncle Absalom is perfectly orthodox on all matters.""I think that they can both prove to you beyond a doubt that it is amost egregious folly to be ever changing with the fashions.""And I think that I can prove to them that they are not at alluninfluenced by the fickle goddess.""Do so, and I will give up the point. Do so and I will avow myselfan advocate of fashion.""As you are now in fact. But I accept your challenge, even thoughthe odds of age and numbers are against me. I am very much mistaken,indeed, if I cannot maintain my side of the argument, at least to myown satisfaction.""You may do that probably; but certainly not to ours.""We will see," was the laughing reply.It was a few evenings after, that Henry Grove and his sister calledin to see uncle Absalom and aunt Abigail, who were of the oldschool, and rather ultra-puritanical in their habits and notions.Mary could not but feel, as she came into their presence, that itwould be rowing against wind and tide to maintain her point withthem--confirmed as they were in their own views of things, and withthe respect due to age to give weight to their opinions.Nevertheless, she determined resolutely to maintain her own side ofthe question, and to use all the weapons, offensive and defensive,that came to her hand. She was a light-hearted girl, with a highflow of spirits, and a quick and discriminating mind. All these werein her favor. The contest was not long delayed, for Henry, feelingthat he had powerful auxiliaries on his side, was eager to see hisown positions triumph, as he was sure that they must. The welcomewords that greeted their entrance had not long been said, before heasked, turning to his aunt,--"What do you think I found on Mary's table, the other day, AuntAbigail?""I don't know, Henry. What was it?""You will be surprised to hear,--a fashion plate! And that is notall. By her own confession, she was studying it in order to conformto the prevailing style of dress. Hadn't you a better opinion ofher?""I certainly had," was aunt Abigail's half smiling, half gravereply."Why, what harm is there in following the fashions, aunt?" Maryasked."A great deal, my dear. It is following after the vanities of thislife. The apostle tells us not to be conformed to this world.""I know he does; but what has that to do with the fashions? Hedoesn't say that you shall not wear fashionable garments; at least Inever saw the passage.""But that is clearly what he means, Mary.""I doubt it. Let us hear what he further says; perhaps that willguide us to a truer meaning?""He says: 'But be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds.'That elucidates and gives force to what goes before.""So I think, clearly upsetting your position. The apostle evidentlyhas reference to a deeper work than mere external non-conformityin regard to the cut of the coat, or the fashion of the dress. Be yenot conformed to this world in its selfish, principles andmaxims--be ye not as the world, lovers of self more than lovers ofGod--but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds. That isthe way I understand him.""Then you understand him wrong, Mary," uncle Absalom spoke up. "Ifhe had meant that, he would have said it in plain terms.""And so he has, it seems to me. But I am not disposed to excuse myadherence to fashion upon any passage that allows of twointerpretations. I argue for it upon rational grounds.""Fashion and rationality! The idea is absurd, Mary!" said uncleAbsalom, with warmth. "They are antipodes.""Not by any means, uncle, and I think I can make it plain to you."Uncle Absalom shook his head, and aunt Abigail fidgeted in herchair."You remember the celebrated John Wesley--the founder of that onceunfashionable people, the Methodists?" Mary asked."O, yes.""What would you think if I proved to you that he was an advocate forfashion upon rational principles?""You can't do it.""I can. On one occasion, it is related of him, that he called upon atailor to make him a coat. 'How will you have it made?' asked thetailor. 'O, make it like other people's,' was the reply. 'Will youhave the sleeves in the new fashion?' 'I don't know, what is it?''They have been made very tight, you know, for some time,' thetailor said, 'but the newest fashion is loose sleeves.' 'Loosesleeves, ah? Well, they will be a great deal more comfortable thanthese. Make mine loose.' What do you think of that, uncle? Do yousee no rationality there?""Yes, but Mary," replied aunt Abigail, "fashion and comfort hardlyever go together.""There you are mistaken, aunt. Most fashionable dress-makers aim atproducing garments comfortable to the wearers; and those fashionswhich are most comfortable, are most readily adopted by the largestnumbers.""You certainly do not pretend to say, Mary," Henry interposed, "thatall changes in fashions are improvements in comfort?""O no, certainly not. Many, nay, most of the changes are unimportantin that respect.""And are the inventions and whims of fashion makers," added auntAbigail with warmth."No doubt of it," Mary readily admitted."And you are such a weak, foolish girl, as to adopt, eagerly, everytrifling variation in fashion?" continued aunt Abigail."No, not eagerly, aunt.""But at all?""I adopt a great many, certainly, for no other reason than becausethey are fashionable.""For shame, Mary, to make such an admission! I really thought betterof you.""But don't you follow the fashions, aunt?""Why Mary," exclaimed both uncle Absalom and her brother, at once."Me follow the fashions, Mary?" broke in aunt Abigail, as soon asshe could recover her breath, for the question struck her almostspeechless. "Me follow the fashions? Why, what can the girl mean?""I asked the question," said Mary. "And if you can't answer it, Ican.""And how will you answer it, pray?""In the affirmative, of course.""You are trifling, now, Mary," said uncle Absalom, gravely."Indeed I am not, uncle. I can prove to her satisfaction and yours,too, that aunt Abigail is almost as much a follower of the fashionsas I am.""For shame, child!""I can though, uncle; so prepare yourself to be convinced. Did younever see aunt wear a different shaped cap from the one she now hason?""O yes, I suppose so. I don't take much notice of such things. But Ibelieve she has changed the pattern of her cap a good many times.""And what if I have, pray?" asked aunt Abigail, fidgeting uneasily."O, nothing, only that in doing so, you were following some newfashion," replied Mary."It is no such thing!" said aunt Abigail."I can prove it.""You can't.""Yes I can, and I will. Don't you remember when the high crowns wereworn?""Of course I do.""And you wore them, of course.""Well, suppose I did?""And then came the close, low-crowned cap. I remember the very timeyou adopted that fashion, and thought it so much more becoming thanthe great tower of lace on the back part of the head.""And so it was.""But why didn't you think so before," asked Mary, looking archlyinto the face of her aunt."Why--because-because--""O, I can tell you, so you needn't search all over the world for areason. It was because the high crowns were fashionable. Come outplain and aboveboard and say so.""Indeed, I won't say any such thing.""Then what was the reason?""Every body wore them, and their unsightly appearance had not beenmade apparent by contrast.""Exactly! They were fashionable. But when a new fashion laughed themout of countenance, you cast them aside, as I do an old fashion fora new one. Then came the quilled border all around. Do you rememberthat change? and how, in a little while after, the plain piece oflace over your forehead disappeared? Why was that, aunt Abigail? Wasthere no regard for fashion there? And now, at this very time yourcap is one that exhibits the latest and neatest style for oldladies' caps. I could go on and prove to your satisfaction, or atleast to my own, that you have followed the fashion almost assteadily as I have. But I have sufficiently made out my case. Don'tyou think so, Henry?"Thus appealed to, her brother, who had been surprised at the turnthe conversation had taken, not expecting to see Mary carry the warhome so directly as she had done, hardly knew how to reply. He,however, gave a reluctant"Yes.""But there is some sense in your aunt's adoption of fashion," saiduncle Absalom."Though not much, it would seem in yours, if you estimate fashion byuse," retorted Mary."What does the girl mean?" asked aunt Abigail in surprise."Of what use, uncle, are those two buttons on the back of yourcoat?""I am sure I don't know.""Then why do you wear them if you don't know their use, unless it bethat you wish to be in the fashion? Then there are two more at thebottom of the skirt, half hid, half seen, as if they were ashamed tobe found so much out of their place. Then, can you enlighten me asto the use of these two pieces of cloth here, called, I believe,flaps?""To give strength to that part of the coat, I presume.""And yet it is only a year or two since it was the fashion to haveno flaps at all. I do not remember ever to have seen a coat tornthere, do you? It is no use, uncle--you might as well be out of theworld as out of the fashion. And old people feel this as well asyoung. They have their fashions, and we have ours, and they are asmuch the votaries of their peculiar modes as we are of our. The onlydifference is, that, as our states of mind change more rapidly,there is a corresponding and more rapid change in our fashions. Youchange as well as we do--but slower.""How could you talk to uncle Absalom and aunt Abigail as you did?"said Henry Grove to his sister, as they walked slowly home together."Didn't I make out my point? Didn't I prove that they too werevotaries of the fickle goddess?""I think you did, in a measure.""And in a good measure too. So give up your point, as you promised,and confess yourself an advocate of fashion.""I don't see clearly how I can do that, notwithstanding all that haspassed to-night; for I do not rationally perceive the use of allthese changes in dress.""I am not certain that I can enlighten you fully on the subject; butthink that I may, perhaps in a degree, if you will allow my viewstheir proper weight in your mind.""I will try to do so; but shall not promise to be convinced.""No matter. Convinced or not convinced you will still be carriedalong by the current. As to the primary cause of the change infashion it strikes me that it is one of the visible effects of thatprocess of change ever going on in the human mind. The fashion ofdress that prevails may not be the true exponent of the internal andinvisible states, because they must necessarily be modified invarious ways by the interests and false tastes of such individualsas promulgate them. Still, this does not affect the primary cause.""Granting your position to be true, Mary, which I am not fullyprepared to admit or deny--why should we blindly follow thesefashions?""We need not blindly. For my part, I am sure that I do not blindlyfollow them.""You do when you adopt a fashion without thinking it becoming.""That I never do.""But, surely, you do not pretend to say that all fashions arebecoming?""All that prevail to any extent, appear so, during the time of theirprevalence, unless they involve an improper exposure of the person,or are injurious to health.""That is singular.""But is it not true.""Perhaps it is. But how do you account for it?""On the principle that there are both external and internal causesat work, modifying the mind's perceptions of the appropriate andbeautiful.""Mostly external, I should think, such as a desire to be in thefashion, etc.""That feeling has its influence no doubt, and operates verystrongly.""But is it a right feeling?""It is right or wrong, according to the end in view. If fashion befollowed from no higher view than a selfish love of being admired,then the feeling is wrong.""Can we follow fashion with any other end?""Answer the question yourself. You follow the fashions.""I think but little about them, Mary.""And yet you dress very much like people who do.""That may be so. The reason is, I do not wish to be singular.""Why?""For this reason. A man who affects any singularity of dress ormanners, loses his true influence in society. People begin to thinkthat there must be within, a mind not truly balanced and thereforedo not suffer his opinions, no matter how sound, to have their trueweight.""A very strong and just argument why we should adopt prevailingusages and fashions, if not immoral or injurious to health. They arethe badges by which we are known--diplomas which give to ouropinions their legitimate value. I could present this subject inmany other points of view. But it would be of little avail, if youare determined not to be convinced.""I am not so determined, Mary. What you have already said, greatlymodifies my view of the subject. I shall, at least, not ridiculeyour adherence to fashion, if I do not give much thought to itmyself.""I will present one more view. A right attention to dress looks tothe development of that which is appropriate and beautiful to theeye. This is a universal benefit. For no one can look upon a trulybeautiful object in nature or art without having his mindcorrespondingly elevated and impressed with beautiful images, andthese do not pass away like spectrums, but remain ever after more orless distinct, bearing with them an elevating influence upon thewhole character. Changes in fashion, so far as they present newand beautiful forms, new arrangements, and new and appropriatecombination of colors, are the dictates of a true taste, and sofar do they tend to benefit society.""But fashion is not always so directed by true taste.""A just remark. And likewise a reason why all who have a rightappreciation of the truly beautiful should give some attention tothe prevailing fashion in dress, and endeavor to correct errors, anddevelop the true and the beautiful here as in other branches ofart."
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