he scarecrow? Passing a cornfield the other day, close
by a hat and coat on a stake, I recognized the owner of the farm. He was
only a little more weather-beaten than when I saw him last. I have
heard of a dog that barked at every stranger who approached his master's
premises with clothes on, but was easily quieted by a naked thief. It is
an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank
if they were divested of their clothes. Could you, in such a case,
tell surely of any company of civilized men which belonged to the most
respected class? When Madam Pfeiffer, in her adventurous travels round
the world, from east to west, had got so near home as Asiatic Russia,
she says that she felt the necessity of wearing other than a travelling
dress, when she went to meet the authorities, for she "was now in a
civilized country, where... people are judged of by their clothes." Even
in our democratic New England towns the accidental possession of wealth,
and its manifestation in dress and equipage alone, obtain for the
possessor almost universal respect. But they yield such respect,
numerous as they are, are so far heathen, and need to have a missionary
sent to them. Beside, clothes introduced sewing, a kind of work which
you may call endless; a woman's dress, at least, is never done.

A man who has at length found something to do will not need to get a new
suit to do it in; for him the old will do, that has lain dusty in the
garret for an indeterminate period. Old shoes will serve a hero longer
than they have served his valet--if a hero ever has a valet--bare feet
are older than shoes, and he can make them do. Only they who go to
soires and legislative balls must have new coats, coats to change as
often as the man changes in them. But if my jacket and trousers, my hat
and shoes, are fit to worship God in, they will do; will they not? Who
ever saw his old clothes--his old coat, actually worn out, resolved into
its primitive elements, so that it was not a deed of charity to bestow
it on some poor boy, by him perchance to be bestowed on some poorer
still, or shall we say richer, who could do with less? I say, beware of
all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of
clothes. If there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to
fit? If you have any enterprise before you, try it in your old clothes.
All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather
something to be.