The Commonplace 35 



lectures, have lived two years about Boston, 

 but I have never seen bad weather ! 



" Bad weather" is mainly the fear of spoiling 

 one's clothes. Fancy clothing is one of the 

 greatest obstacles to a knowledge of nature : in 

 this regard, the farm boy has an immense ad- 

 vantage. It is a misfortune not to have gone 

 barefoot in one's youth. A man cannot be a 

 naturalist in patent-leather shoes. The perfect- 

 ing of the manufacture of elaborate and fragile 

 fabrics correlates well with our growing habit of 

 living indoors. Our clothing is made chiefly 

 for fair weather; when it becomes worn we use 

 it for stormy weather, although it may be in no 

 respect stormy weather clothing. I am always 

 interested, when abroad with persons, in noting 

 the various mental attitudes toward wind ; and 

 it is apparent that most of the displeasure from 

 the wind arises from fear of disarranging the 

 coiffure or from the difficulty of controling a 

 garment. 



If our clothes are not made for the weather, 

 then we have failed to adapt ourselves to our 

 conditions, and we are in worse state than the 



