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But it is said by some that men will think and act for themselves; that
none will disuse spirits or anything else because his neighbors do; and
that moral influence is not that powerful engine contended for. Let us
examine this. Let me ask the man who could maintain this position most
stiffly, what compensation he will accept to go to church some Sunday and
sit during the sermon with his wife's bonnet upon his head? Not a
trifle, I'll venture. And why not? There would be nothing irreligious
in it, nothing immoral, nothing uncomfortable--then why not? Is it not
because there would be something egregiously unfashionable in it? Then
it is the influence of fashion; and what is the influence of fashion but
the influence that other people's actions have on our actions--the strong
inclination each of us feels to do as we see all our neighbors do? Nor
is the influence of fashion confined to any particular thing or class of
things; it is just as strong on one subject as another. Let us make it as
unfashionable to withhold our names from the temperance cause as for
husbands to wear their wives' bonnets to church, and instances will be
just as rare in the one case as the other.
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