1.  GOD IS A LOVER OF DRESS.—­We cannot but feel that God is a lover of dress.  He has put on robes of beauty and glory upon all his works.  Every flower is dressed in richness; every field blushes beneath a mantle of beauty; every star is veiled in brightness; every bird is clothed in the habiliments of the most exquisite taste.  The cattle upon the thousand hills are dressed by the hand divine.  Who, studying God in his works, can doubt, that he will smile upon the evidence of correct taste manifested by his children in clothing the forms he has made them?

2.  LOVE OF DRESS.—­To love dress is not to be a slave of fashion; to love dress only is the test of such homage.  To transact the business of charity in a silken dress, and to go in a carriage to the work, injures neither the work nor the worker.  The slave of fashion is one who assumes the livery of a princess, and then omits the errand of the good human soul; dresses in elegance, and goes upon no good errand, and thinks and does nothing of value to mankind.

3.  BEAUTY IN DRESS.—­Beauty in dress is a good thing, rail at it who may.  But it is a lower beauty, for which a higher beauty should not be sacrificed.  They love dresses too much who give it their first thought, their best time, or all their money; who for it neglect the culture of their mind or heart, or the claims of others on their service; who care more for their dress than their disposition; who are troubled more by an unfashionable bonnet than a neglected duty.

4.  SIMPLICITY OF DRESS.—­Female lovliness never appears to so good advantage as when set off by simplicity of dress.  No artist ever decks his angels with towering feathers and gaudy jewelry; and our dear human angels—­if they would make good their title to that name—­should carefully avoid ornaments, which properly belong to Indian squaws and African princesses.  These tinselries may serve to give effect on the stage, or upon the ball room floor, but in daily life there is no substitute for the charm of simplicity.  A vulgar taste is not to be disguised by gold or diamonds.  The absence of a true taste and refinement of delicacy cannot be compensated for by the possession of the most princely fortune.  Mind measures gold, but gold cannot measure mind.  Through dress the mind may be read, as through the delicate tissue the lettered page.  A modest woman will dress modestly; a really refined and intelligent woman will bear the marks of careful selection and faultless taste.

5.  PEOPLE OF SENSE.—­A coat that has the mark of use upon it, is a recommendation to the people of sense, and a hat with too much nap, and too high lustre, a derogatory circumstance.  The best coats in our streets are worn on the backs of penniless fops, broken down merchants, clerks with pitiful salaries, and men that do not pay up.  The heaviest gold chains dangle from the fobs of gamblers and gentlemen of very limited means; costly ornaments on ladies, indicate to the eyes that are well opened, the fact of a silly lover or husband cramped for funds.