206 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



these buttons to hold on their sword-belts. 

 The swords have gone, but we continue to in- 

 sist upon the buttons because " everybody 

 wears them." The necktie once held the shirt 

 together at the throat, and thus served a useful 

 purpose. Buttons now fill the office, but the 

 tie survives, and the man who goes without a 

 necktie is held up to scorn. A score of such 

 customs which have now no other warrant than 

 that " every one else does so " might be given. 

 Yet it is more difficult to teach a boy the neces- 

 sity of truth than the folly of too much atten- 

 tion to his clothes. As things go there is a 

 reason in the present insistance upon fine 

 feathers ; the man who wishes to be well paid 

 must make people believe that he is worth 

 large pay and that other people think so. If 

 he is richly dressed, it is a sign that his services 

 have been considered worthy of a rich reward. 

 " It pays to dress well," has become a maxim 

 with us, and there is reason behind it. It does 

 pay in money. But we must take care that 

 we do not pay too much for that money. 



The matter of clothes has been suggested as 

 offering possible obstacles to a life without 

 money, and the topic has been treated so fully, 



