Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1851-10-18
From the Essex County Freeman.
Long Hair.

Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, of Rowley, Puritan
of the straighlcst sect, who flourished in the
middle of the l7th century, wns e valiant
enemy of long hair. In l6l7, 8 mo. 4 day,
he preached before the Magistrates and Dep
ulies at the Synod in Cambridge, when, il is
said, "lle repoved the great expressions in
the country. &C., and other things amiss, as
long hair. &c.-Divers were offended at his
zeal in some of these passages" some nn-
cieut papers in Salem, says the Genealogical
Register, mention the following, Three rea-
sous why Mr.. Ezekiel Rogers, of Rowey,
would not make Ezekiel, son of Nathaniel,
his heir. |. Because he refused to dwell
with him. .. Because he wSald not keep at
the College, though there lih would have
maintained him 3. Because he spoke 10 his
mothe- 10 hdue his hair cut, bh could mol gel IL
dome In Ills will he protested against long
hair as follows ~ do also protest against
all the evil fashions aud guses of this aye,
both in apparel and that general Gsgmsenleh
Of long rgDidn-like hnir, custom most general
Ly taken up al that lime, irhen The grdue and
modest icedring Of hair ipds a part Of The re-
prodch Of Christ, as appears by The term Of
roundheadS, aud was carried on with high
hanG Notwithstanding the known offence of
many godly persons, and without public ex-
preston OF their reasons for any such liberty
taken"
An angry controversy arose in the Church,
during the middle ages, upon the question
whether the hair should be worn in peaked
| form. (ike Ossian T. Dodge's we presume y
or wether round, or cut of altogether. The
hnr was he Id in high esteem III patrarchal
times, when the Jewish men were accus
toned to anoint il with sweet unguents, and
the women to sprinkle it with gold dust
In the Mohalnednn religion the hair is a sa-
cred thing, and the lslamtish woman kisses
her husbands beard in token of affection,
and the child also kisses his fathers beard in
the same spirit.
| The Romans and Greeks wore long flow
| ing hair, and the latter nation swore their
most solemn oaths by touching it, The an
| cient kings of Persia valued il very highly,
| so that they used to ornament il with gold
thread. The ancient Chinese adorned il in
the same way, and iancied that they should
he drawn up TO heaven by their long hair.
Hence they endured the hardships of u long
and cruel war before submitting 10 the de-
cree of the Tartars that they should be shu-
ven close TO the skull. And even 10 this day
they retain their high regard for the long
queu. The Russians also adored long hair,
and when Peter the Great ordered the bar
hers of the the Empire TO reduce its length,
| the tonsonal "relorln" came near causing
revolution, and was only accomplished at the
point of the razor, the knights Of the shears
| receiving orders TO cut It of at all events,
peaceably il they could, iorcibly if they must.
Alexander the Great experienced similar
difficulties, when, after having tanned Buce.
phalus, he turned himeslf to the greater task
OF tanning the Macedonian rage for long hair
But he succeeded. So in Rome, the author
tiles set themselves against long hair, and
when the asiQns of short hair was intro
duced, and the patricians shaved every day,
the innovation was nnde popular by formal
visit of the aristocrncy.
Men cling with tenacity to every hair of
their head What prodigious excitement
has been occasioned in the English aud
American navies when orders have been is
sued to shave off the moustache
Even now we notice a paragraph, going
the rounds of the papers, setting forth that
the officers of the English navy and army
defend the moustache on the ground that il
is favorable to healh II is said TO protect
the nostTls from the malaria of sickly coun-
tries What would good old Ezekiel Rog-
ers say if he were TO come TO life and prom
enade Broadway or Washington street. aud
see the "whiskered pandours aud the fierce
Hussars," which foreign fashions and Amer
ican mimicry have Introduced in such large
numhers? He would surely institute an
anti-long-l hair society at once, and commence
new crusade against whiskers, goatees,
moustaches and soap locks. We sympathize
lmore or less with the spirit Of Ezekiel Rogers.