DRESS.

BY MRS. ELEANOR B. BURGES.

SOME men pretend that dress is only meant
As a protection from the heat and cold;
In which some little vanity is blent,
Which shows itself in jewels and in gold,

-I'm content

Well, let their worships think so—
Tho' I another story shall unfold.

If this be all, the Indians in their skin

Of beast, the palm of wit and sense must win.

Their woollen manufacturers are bears,

Their colors lasting, "dyed when in the wool." Man gives the brute a stab, and then he tears His coat from off his back with one strong pull; Better than broadcloth superfine it wears,

And fits-tho' made without the tailor's rule.

If it be true that dress is but a cover,

This is the shortest method ten times over.

And more becoming too,-for then it shows

That man indeed is "Lord of the Creation,"
And gives him "l'air distingue."-Now his clothes
But mix and mingle every rank and station;
That may have been the object--for who knows
From cut or color, what's a man's vocation?
Black once belonged to priests and undertakers,
But now 'tis worn by all men save the Qakers,

Women have long been laughed at--'tis a shame ;

I'm sure there's no occasion for a smile,

If they endure it longer they are tame,

For now they have been silent a great while.

Of wit and moralist it is the aim

Fair woman from this passion to beguile;
"The vanity of dress" their ceaseless cry,
While woman has dressed on without reply.

But woman has a genius wondrous keen,
She reads in dress what sages read in stars,
She need not go beyond this world I ween,
To learn of Fate or Destiny--which bars
Or seems to bar us in. Much can be seen
In millinery shops, which helps or mars
The

March of Mind"-for upon Fashion's banner, New truths are written in a certain manner.

Now I have come to my great proposition,

Dress is a hieroglyphic of the mind!
I do maintain against all opposition,
Champollion in Egypt did not find
So deep a mystery-his supposition,
For what I know, is learnedly refined.
But for dark things we need not go to Egypt
And look on marble temples or see crypt.

No!-if you wish a puzzle look on me!
Tell, if you can, why I wear this or that?
My coat, if I have one, is thus, you see,

And my cap so, and so my shoe and hat;

"It is the style" you say-why that may be ;

But why such style? you cannot tell," that's flat." Dress is the spirit of the age corporeal !

Sometimes 'tis "l'esprit solide," sometimes "gloriole."

It was the fashion once as you all know,

To wear stick heels and powder and brocade,

Now this was hieroglyphical to show

The mind on stilts and formally arrayed

In others' manufacture-all was so

Stately and stiff; the mind and dress both made
For courts and courtiers only to be used;
By common people both would be abused.

Then simple thought and dress came in together
In that Emporium of both "Belle France."
The same age saw pomatum, powder, feather,
And the Bastile demolished-at a glance,
Toupees went off with heads. Now whether
They thought them symbols, and that 'twould advance
The cause of Freedom, thus to change the Fashion,
I do not know; but thus they long did dash on !

When Kings threw off their royal purple dress,
Their majesty went too, with these externals,
And their corporeal part became, I guess,
What the conundrum has it. The diurnals
Soon found, that in those ermine robes, no less

Than in the man, was royalty-the journals
Made war on privilege, and shirts with ruffles,
Which led to riots and to horrid scuffles.

When they dethroned their rulers, then their hair
Was "a la Brutus"-male and female head
Both cropp'd--and Madame Tallien, the fair,
Who lectured to the learned-when she read
She dressed quite masculine, and had the air
Of the most noble sex, and all she said

Was just like what she wore-which clearly shows
She thought there was some meaning in her clothes.
And when against the Turks rose up the Greeks,
Why then all heads, we know, were "a la Grec."
And this thing lasted, I believe, for weeks,
And curls were flowing o'er each graceful neck
For Greece and not for beauty! He who seeks
To know the hobby of the day, and spec-
Ulate on what is coming, need but know
The latest París mode and what's "the go!"

And thus you see, that Fashion is symbolical.
It is an art, a science, quite profound;
Its characters are always metaphorical,
In which the spirit of the Age is found,

And, if you will not think me tautological,
And in my words see less of sense than sound,
I'll say again, that dress is hieroglyphical,

And hats and caps and SLEEVES are ideographical !

THE EXISTENCE OF GOD.

BY THE REV. JONATHAN MAXCY, D. D.

THE nobler part of man clearly evinces this great truth that there must be a God uncaused, independent and complete. When we consider the boundless desires and the inconceivable activity of the soul of man, we can refer his origin to nothing but God. How astonishing are the reasoning faculties of man! How surprising the power of comparing, arranging and connecting his ideas! How wonderful is the power of imagination! On its wings, in a moment, we can transport ourselves to the most distant part of the universe. We can fly back, and live the lives of all antiquity, or surmount the limits of time, and sail along the vast range of eternity.

*

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This great Being is every where present. He exists all around us.

Wherever we turn, his

image meets our view. in the ocean, in the air, in the sun, moon and stars. We feel him in ourselves. He is always working round us; he performs the greatest operations, produces the noblest effects, discovers himself in a thousand different ways, and yet the real God remains unseen. All parts of creation are equally

We see him in the earth,