O somewhat redeemed by a well-chosen and wellfitted dress. A dressy wife may cost you a few extra dollars per annum; but then she has something to show for it, and in spite of the drain upon your pocket, you will be pleased. You will be indemnified in part, at least, for the bleeding of your purse, by the consideration that your better half will not be likely to subject you to mortification on account of her appearance. Here, then, is something in the shape of value received; not a receipt in full of all demands, it may be, but a sort of compounding some few shillings in the pound, I must back again to the parson's wife blessings on her. The most determined grumblers in the parish always admitted, that if she was somewhat given to the ways of the world in the matter of her dress, yet her house was a very model of neatness. Every thing," said they, "is in perfect order from garret to cellar; to do her justice," (they had no sense of justice,) "like wax-work, and her children always look well." Now, have you not noticed that they who are a little fond of dresssomething tasteful as to cut and color, neat and trim—are generally the best housekeepers? And no great marvel. She who studies neatness, order, and beauty in her apparel, will be likely to study them in connection with the affairs of her household. A sort of elegance will reign throughout her abode, even as there does over her person. 66 A woman possessing a genuine taste as to mat say, ters of dress, is always well dressed; not only when she "goes out," but at home. She evidently seems to have an idea of this kind, that her husband (if she is blessed with one) has some small claim upon her efforts to please. She would appear well in his eyes and in her own. Alas! alas! when a wife begins to say within herself, ""Tis only husband." Ah! yes, 'tis truly only he whom thou shouldst be most solicitous to please. Wilt thou ""Tis but a small thing-a mere matter of dress why should he care? " My mistaken friend, dost thou not know that life is made up mostly of small things?-in-door life, at least, — domestic life thy life. Dost thou not know that the small things of life are the hinges whereon the great ones turn? Put not off the matter thus. On this small hinge (dress) may turn the great matter of thy husband's domestic peace and comfort. Didst thou do thus when he wooed thee? Didst thou say, ""Tis only he"? Let thy memory answer. What tales thy glass could tell of those times! And you, my friend, the husband, if you have a wife, a woman of taste, of refinement, consider it, I beseech you. Do you say, 66 ""Tis only she"? This was not so in the days of courtship. What a sprucing up of yourself! No unshaved chin then. No unwashed hands, no uncleanly raiment then. Why not always seek to appear well in each other's eyes? Is the market made? Will affection and respect now take care of themselves? Does marriage change the nature and the means of love? Does it make a man fond of a slattern, or a woman fond of a sloven? Did the lover admire order and neatness, and has the wife or husband fallen in love with disorder? It is a great mistake, my friends, a great mistake. I have read somewhere of a people who are accustomed to wear their best clothes at home. If this custom were adopted among ourselves, what a different aspect it would impart to some households! We might appear rather indifferent, perhaps, abroad. Our old duds might give rather a strange look to our streets; but then, all these would be laid aside the moment we entered our own doors. We should don "our best," and sit down at our firesides pleased with ourselves and with each other. The temptation, too, to go abroad would be less, and thus it would be more easy to comply with the apostolic precept, to be "keepers at home." Home would then keep us. I bethink me now of another apostolic precept, which seems to discourage attention to dress. It speaks slightingly of the braiding of hair, and the putting on of apparel, and commends the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit. you that Peter seriously meant that a woman should never braid her hair, should never literally put on apparel? Mercy save us; no, not this last, surely. What, then, does he mean? I think it must be an excessive fondness for dress that's all. If we dress according to the analogy of nature, (as Butler Think has it,) we shall dress as well as we can, according to our condition in life. He who has clothed the earth so beautifully, and has given us to perceive and enjoy it, can never have intended that we should not bring into exercise, in connection with the clothing of ourselves, the perception of the beautiful implanted in our natures. It must be a strange taste which prefers the untasteful for its own sake. It is not natural. Leave people to their choice, and ninety-nine out of a hundred will choose as an associate, other things being equal, the best (in the best sense of the word) dressed person. If I were to put another petition in the prayer book, it should be somewhat as follows: From all slatterns, from all slovens, Good Lord, deliver us! HOME. THERE is a land, of every land the pride, |