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Show For The Dispatch:! A PLEA FOR GOOD CLOTHES. That Blirewd politicinu, Poloniiis, when indulging in the father's prerogative prerog-ative of giving advice, cautions Horatio Hor-atio while on his travels to let his habit be as costly as his purse could buy "rich, not gaudy; for the apparel oft proclaims the man,"' added he. In modern colloquial phrase, Horatio was to dress as well as he could. This was excellent advice, for despite de-spite the querulous criticisms of many groundlings, a good coat is a good thing. It is not only a good thing as a substantial possession, or a protection protec-tion to the body or a necessary garment; gar-ment; it is also a good thing to have from a moral, social and ethical stand-poist. stand-poist. It would be, perhaps, going too far to place good clothes on a plane with honesty, sobriety and diligence as a factor in a man's success in life, but there can be no doubt of the factorship fac-torship existing. This is, of course, no new or original sentiment, any more than vaccination is a new preventive against smallpox; but the occasional re-application of both does no harm. One or two thinkers have expressed themselves very plainly upon the advisability of a man bein well clad. Sir Richard Steele, who was rich in experience, of a very motley character, says in No. SG0 of the Spectator: "It is an asser tion which admits of much proof, that a stranger of tolerable sense, dressed like a gentleman, will be better received re-ceived by those of quality above him, than one of much better parts whose dress is regulated by the rigid notions of frugality." Perhaps one of the best collects on the advantages of good clothes is that found in Coltou's 'Lacon." "It is not every man," it runs, "that cim afford to wear a shabby coat; and worldly wisdom dictates to her disciples disci-ples the propriety of dressing somewhat some-what beyond their means,but of living somewhat with n them; for every sees how we dress, but nun" we live, except we choose to let them." The modern application of these morals of attire can be easily pursued. The value of good clothes can be estimated and experienced in a hundred hun-dred different ways. Try as he may to disabuse himself of the idea that he judges men by the exterior, the employer em-ployer who does not insensibly look with more favor upon his spruce than upon his slouchy employe is great rarity. The iopor dandy is in no riae referred to here, for he is as much an extreme as the slouch. The shabby, careless-iu-his-attire clerk may be as honest as the sun is bright in Utah, but there are few outside of his intimate friends who will even take the trouble to look inside the rouh Piieil to Gnd the sweet kernel of a lovely life. lie labors under a positive" disadvantage in his dowdi-n dowdi-n ess and it is the duty of these penetrating pene-trating friends of his to bring him down out of his unpractical carelessness careless-ness into the every-day, superficial life of this hurrying world, where people peo-ple have no time to analyze their impressions, im-pressions, and where we studiously ignore the divine precept to "to judge not by appearances." It is a perfectly natural sentiment, after all, that of "sizing up" a man by his attire. The dog barks at the ill-dressed ill-dressed man, oblivious of the fact that he is a nrominent member of the So ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the child goes instinctively instinct-ively to the best dressed of its grown up sister's sweethearts. Nothing more could be expected from children and dogs, it might be claimed by some angular an-gular and acid fellow, but on the other hand it may be claimed with equal force that constancy is the dog's chief characteristic, as innocence is that of the child. The dog may attach himself him-self for life to a ragged tramp, and live on half a crust a day for love of him, and the well-dressed suitor may turn out to be a bigamist and horse-thief. These things are of the exigencies of life, and do not affect its principles. A man has frequent cause to personally person-ally appreciate the importance of good clothes. An applicant for a position will present his claims with 90 per cent, more cheerful aplomb and insinuating sflf-contidenee ' if he knows that his coat lits him well and that there is no schism between his vest and trousers. Many a poor fellow has made an unsatisfactory unsat-isfactory .showing of himself because of his 'dreadful knowledge that his pants bagged horribly at the knees. A shocking bad hat has been the extinguisher ex-tinguisher of a thousand brilliant aspirations, aspir-ations, and a down-trodden pair of shoes has led to many shattered hopes. Success with women is largely a matter mat-ter of clothes. Wealth, title and notoriety noto-riety are the three other engines of attack, at-tack, but they are not much, if anything, any-thing, stronger than the one of habiii-ments. habiii-ments. If the reader carps nothing for victories of this sort, why he can pooh-pooh the whole thing arena, prize, panoply and all; but if he does care, he should certainly pay heed to his dress. The punning apothegm may be unpardonable at so early a time of the year, but a good suit is largely a matter of clothes, especially if well pressed. The sly fortuim-hunter knows this 1 well enough, and whenever he starts out to capture and enslave lie always Euts on his warpaint in the shape of rilliant raiment not to brilliant, but just brilliant ent ugh. He may be a clerk on $50 a month, but, following the wiadom of the ancients viaCoIton. h starves himself on two poor meals a day to blossom out in four new suits of clothes a year. It is a very hard experience, ex-perience, this living in Grub street and playing the bun racket, but our young fellow meets his reward, lie is received receiv-ed into fashionable drawing-rooms because of his clothes, and makes up for his missing meals by loading up at the guppertabla like an Indian preparing prepar-ing for a moose hunt, lie is as empty-headed empty-headed as he is stomach-lank, but his clothes are first-class and of latest cut and t:0 in due time he captures his employer's daughter or marries a fat scorbntic widow with a bonanza bank account. "There is much virtue in good clotht-s. The politic; i'i Unws this, too, and one can ahv::).- t-H a campaign is near at hand by the number of high silk hais added to the landscape The higher the positions aimd at, the glossier the hat, and so well does the office-seeker know the power of good clothes on thost to whose suffrages he appeals that ho would hypothecate his soul if it were a negotiulde commodity com-modity for a new suit of clothes. It is a necessity to him. in fact, and if he is only glib and glossy he feels like another Alexander. Only the truly great are exempt from the trammels of dress, or can afford to play the sloven, and as the truly great are as rare as a red-bearded man who is not proud of that appendage, it would follow that the great mass of us must dress as well as we can, and a little better. Felix Antoxius. Pkovo, Utah, Jan. 25, 1891. |