And What We Gain 219 



or dressmaker to their majesties, cannot know the 

 comfort of wearing a suit that fits. They are no 

 better than wooden horses to hang the clean clothes 

 on. Every day our garments become more assimi- 

 lated to ourselves, receiving the impress of the 

 wearer's character, until we hesitate to lay them 

 aside, without such delay and medical appliances 

 and some such solemnity even as our bodies. No 

 man ever stood the lower in my estimation for hav- 

 ing a patch in his clothes, yet I am sure that there 

 is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, 

 or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to 

 have a sound conscience. But even if the rent is 

 not mended, perhaps the worst vice betrayed is im- 

 providence. I sometimes try my acquaintances by 

 such tests as this: Who would wear a patch, or two 

 extra seams only, over the knee ? Most behaved 

 as if they believed that their prospects for life 

 would be ruined if they should do it. It would be 

 easier for them to hobble to town with a broken leg 

 than with a broken pantaloon. Often if an acci- 

 dent happens to a gentleman's legs, they can be 

 mended, but if a similar accident happens to the 

 legs of his pantaloons there is no help for it, for he 

 considers not what is truly respectable, but what is 

 respected. We know but few men, a great many 



