No education can be complete
that does not teach right principles in regard to dress. Without such teaching,
the work of education is too often retarded and perverted. Love of dress, and
devotion to fashion, are among the teacher's most formidable rivals and most
effective hindrances.
Fashion is a
mistress that rules with an iron hand. In very many homes the strength and time
and attention of parents and children are absorbed in meeting her demands. The
rich are ambitious to outdo one another in conforming to her ever-varying
styles; the middle and poorer classes strive to approach the standard set by
those supposed to be above them. Where means or strength is limited, and the
ambition for gentility is great, the burden becomes almost insupportable.
With many it
matters not how becoming, or even beautiful, a garment may be, let the fashion
change, and it must be remade or cast aside. The members of the household are
doomed to ceaseless toil. There is no time for training the children, no time
for prayer or Bible study, no time for helping the little ones to become
acquainted with God through His works.
247
There is no time
and no money for charity. And often the home table is stinted. The food is ill
selected and hastily prepared, and the demands of nature are but partially
supplied. The result is wrong habits of diet, which create disease or lead to
intemperance.
The love of display
produces extravagance, and in many young people kills the aspiration for a
nobler life. Instead of seeking an education, they early engage in some
occupation to earn money for indulging the passion for dress. And through this
passion many a young girl is beguiled to ruin.
In many a home the
family resources are overtaxed. The father, unable to supply the demands of the
mother and the children, is tempted to dishonesty, and again dishonor and ruin
are the result.
Even the day and
the services of worship are not exempt from fashion's domination. Rather they
afford opportunity for the greater display of her power. The church is made a
parade ground, and the fashions are studied more than the sermon. The poor,
unable to meet the demands of custom, stay away from church altogether. The day
of rest is spent in idleness, and by the youth often in associations that are
demoralizing.
At school, the
girls are by unsuitable and uncomfortable clothing unfitted either for study or
for recreation. Their minds are preoccupied, and the teacher has a difficult
task to awaken their interest.
For breaking the
spell of fashion, the teacher can often find no means more effective than
contact with nature. Let pupils taste the delights to be found by river or lake
or sea; let them climb the hills, gaze on the sunset glory, explore the
treasures of wood and field; let them learn the pleasure of cultivating plants
and flowers; and the importance
248
of an additional
ribbon or ruffle will sink into insignificance.
Lead the youth to
see that in dress, as in diet, plain living is indispensable to high thinking.
Lead them to see how much there is to learn and to do; how precious are the
days of youth as a preparation for the lifework. Help them to see what
treasures there are in the word of God, in the book of nature, and in the
records of noble lives.
Let their minds be
directed to the suffering which they might relieve. Help them to see that by
every dollar squandered in display, the spender is deprived of means for
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and comforting the sorrowful.
They cannot afford
to miss life's glorious opportunities, to dwarf their minds, to ruin their
health, and to wreck their happiness, for the sake of obedience to mandates
that have no foundation in reason, in comfort, or in comeliness.
At the same time
the young should be taught to recognize the lesson of nature, "He hath made
everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11, R.V. In dress, as in all
things else, it is our privilege to honor our Creator. He desires our clothing
to be not only neat and healthful, but appropriate and becoming.
A person's
character is judged by his style of dress. A refined taste, a cultivated mind,
will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate attire. Chaste
simplicity in dress, when united with modesty of demeanor, will go far toward
surrounding a young woman with that atmosphere of sacred reserve which will be
to her a shield from a thousand perils.
Let girls be taught
that the art of dressing well includes
249
the ability to make
their own clothing. This is an ambition that every girl should cherish. It will
be a means of usefulness and independence that she cannot afford to miss.
It is right to love
beauty and to desire it; but God desires us to love and to seek first the
highest beauty-- that which is imperishable. The choicest productions of human
skill possess no beauty that can bear comparison with that beauty of character
which in His sight is of "great price."
Let the youth and
the little children be taught to choose for themselves that royal robe woven in
heaven's loom --the "fine linen, clean and white" (Revelation 19:8), which all
the holy ones of earth will wear. This robe, Christ's own spotless character,
is freely offered to every human being. But all who receive it will receive and
wear it here.
Let the children be
taught that as they open their minds to pure, loving thoughts and do loving and
helpful deeds, they are clothing themselves with His beautiful garment of
character. This apparel will make them beautiful and beloved here, and will
hereafter be their title of admission to the palace of the King. His promise
is:
"They shall walk
with Me in white: for they are worthy." Revelation 3:4.