The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-01-31 00:00:00

BEARDS IN THE ARMY.

On the above subject, Option" writes to The Times:—
Sir,—l wish you would either say a word in favour
of a soldier's beard, or allow an old soldier like myself
to fill a brief soace on the subject. A man, whether
soldier or civilian, has an equal objection to needless
restrictions, and the whole course of modern legisla-
tion has been the abolishing of worn-out laws, both
petty and important, and the ordinances about
hair have not been few. It needed a strong wrestle
before the infantry upper lip was allowed to show
a-sign of hair, and many an old dragoon thought the
service was going to the doge when the moustache
no longer distinguished the horse from the foot man.
3 now ell sticklers for routine are in favour of
the shaven chin, in reality because their own chins
have always heti' shaven, but ostensibly on the
ground of uniformity and cleanliness. The former
pretext does not need argument to ehoee its absurdity,
for soldiers differ hem each other as much as do any
of their fellow-subjects. Slim six-footers and square-
built Dutchmen stand in the same ranks; smooth
carroty locks and frizzy black curls scent the same
gale; rosjecheeked farm labourers and sailowfactory
men stand cheek by jowl; Hibernian snubs swi
cogitative, broad-based noses sne,ze sympathetically
at the !same dust atoms; shapely, straight limbs
and bowed, spindleshanks move side by side, and
here and there a new scarlet frock touches a garment
weather-worn to brick-dust hue. As for the dirt
argument, beards are allowed to be worn at the very
time that cleanliness becomes most dilieult and
water most scant—in war time—and I have, never
known a well-trimmed beard to be a cause of dirt; in
f,ct, as the hair covers more space on the head than
on the chin, this argument would tell more strongly in
favour of a shaven crown. Just as in graver matters,
so in this trifle, we slavishly copy foreign rules. Con-
tinental armies rarely leave their own countries, outs
is always more than half abroad; and after tie
optional disuse of the razor in wartime in India and
in some other of our colonies it is a paltry tyranny to
say to the soldier returning to the cold, moist winds
of his fatherlend, "Off with your beard," and to the
whiskers, "Tons far shall you come and no further,"
It is a needless interference with a man's vanity or
fancy, and, like all other needless restrictions, will
one day be abolished, and why not now?

one in each hand, and held them at arm's length.
The witness asked him if he could feel anything, and
he said he could feel a slight shock. He asked witness
If he would take hold of the wires, but he declined
and turned away. When he turned round to the de-
ceased he found him with the joints again in his
bands, and almost immediately afterwards he fell on
hh knees moaning, as though in a fit. The witness
was frightened and raised an alarm. A surgeon was
seat for, but be found that the deceased was dead
The deceased was taller than the witness, or he would.
not have been able to reach the joints. The witness
knew that it was dangerous to touch the joints, and
that was why he did not do so-
lo reply to the coroner, Mr. Quilter, the manager,
explained that the reason why the deceased escaped
injury the first time he had hold of the joints was tnat
all the lights were then burning. On the second occa-
sion some of the lights were out, and the deceased re-
ceived the full force of the current.

Arthur Thurstans, an assistant to Mr. Frey, electri-
cian at the Lower Grounds, deposed to warning the
deceased and the other members of the band against
touching the brass connexions. If the deceased had
laid hold of only one of the brasses there would have
been no accident, but he took one of them down and
brought it some three or four yards towards the other,
and so the current passed through his body. In pulling
down the wire the deceased put out some of the lights
and increased the force of the current, The battery
was one of 40 horse power.
The medical evidence was to the effect that death
had resulted from paralysis of the heart. The jury
returned a verdict of "Accidental death."