Another of the Cynics, as he entered the elegant apartments of Plato,
spat upon the rug, exclaiming: "Thus I pour contempt on the pride of
Plato." "Yes," was Plato's reply, "with a greater pride of your own."
Since pride and vanity have these two forms, we need to be on our guard
against them both. For one or the other is pretty sure to assail us. An
eye single to the attractiveness of our personal appearance is the only
thing that will save us from one or the other of these lines of
temptation.

THE VICE OF DEFECT.

+Too little attention to dress and surroundings is slovenliness.+--The
sloven is known by his dirty hands and face, his disheveled hair, and
tattered garments. His house is in confusion; his grounds are littered
with rubbish; he eats his meals at an untidy table; and sleeps in an
unmade bed. Slovenliness is a vice; for it is an open confession that a
man is too weak to make his surroundings the expression of his tastes
and wishes, and has allowed his surroundings to run over him and drag
him down to their own level. And this subjection of man to the tyranny
of things, when he ought to exercise a strong dominion over them, is the
universal mark of vice.

THE VICE OF EXCESS.

+Too much attention to dress and appearance is fastidiousness.+--These
things are important; but it is a very petty and empty mind that can
find enough in them to occupy any considerable portion of its total
attention and energy. The fastidious person must have everything "just
so," or the whole happiness of his precious self is utterly ruined. He
spends hours upon toilet and wardrobe where sensible people spend
minutes. Hence he becomes the slave rather than the master of his dress.

+The sloven and the dude are both slaves; but in different
ways.+--Slovenliness is slavery to the hideous and repulsive.
Fastidiousness is slavery to this or that particular style or fashion.
The freedom and mastery of neatness consists in the ability to make as
attractive as possible just such material as one's means place at his
disposal with the amount of time and effort he can reasonably devote to
them.

THE PENALTY.

+Fastidiousness belittles: slovenliness degrades. Both are
contemptible.+--The man who does not care enough for himself to keep the
dirt off his hands and clothes, when not actually engaged in work that
soils them, cannot complain if other people place no higher estimate
upon him than he by this slovenliness puts upon himse