Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1854-02-22
Boards.

The following ant-barbcrous article on this
subject we cut from the columns of the Home
Journal; as it may afford said and comfort" to
our whisker bearing friends, we publish it en-
tire and commend it to their perusa We are
almost a convert to the doctrine:
"a mans beard (says Haler,) grows four
inches year, but less in winter than in sum-
mer. 1t is not precisely the season for start
ing beard, therefore; but we think prepara-
tory reminder may not be amiss, particularly for
those who are hesitating about yielding to the
laws of Nature and Of manly beauty, and replac-
ing the taken-down sign over the door to show
that the man is not at home. The increment de.
cidedly, all over the two most shaved countries
of England and America, is to 'restore the beard
Dickens, in his Household Words thus reasons:
"Surely enough has been said to make it evil
dent the man who, at the end of his days, has
spent about an entire year of his life in scraping
off his beard, has worried himself to no purpose,
has submitted to painful, vexatious, and not
only useless, but actually unwhoesome custom.
He has disfgured himself Systematically thro'-
out life, accepted his share of unnecessary tic
douloureur and tooth ache, coughs and colds
has swallowed dust and inhaled smoke and fog,
out OF compliance TO the social prejudice which
| ought not now to prevail We all abomnate
the razor while we use it, and would gladly Law
| it down. Now, if we see clearly-and think
the fact is very cear-that the use of it is
great blunder, and if we are no longer such a
slovenly people as to be afraid that, if we kept
our boards, we should not wash, or comb, or
trim them in decent way, why can we not put
aside our morning plague ,aapd irrtate our skin
no more than we now do @
| AS republicans, we should keep in mind the
un-republican and adulatory origin of the fash
ion Of shaving, which, with some other informa-
toH rs to precedent for the opposite wear, is
thus spoken of bv another recent writer in an
English PERIODICAL
"Louis XIII, and Louis XIV, both assembled
the throne in their minority, and in spirit of
fulsome flattery it was proposed among the cour-
tiers, and carried by acclamation, that to present
a loyal compliment to their bald-chinned sove-
reign, they should surrender their cherished
beard and moustache, and exhibit their features
feminine and free Hence the fashion spread,
until, in later times, no one dared, Esau-like to
crafty nature at the expense Of art But we
have got patriarchal authority for taking pride
in the bristly establishment. 1t is our private
opinion that Adam possessed beard before the
Fail. We have no doubt (although we have
not time now to state the reasons for our belief)
'n"', ooinS c'eateu III Tue prime OF lie, ne Hau
given to him brilliant and flowing beard wav-
ing dreamy in the luscious airs of Eden. We
are aware that this is a disputed point, it being
maintained by many competent authorities that
it was not until after Adam had sinned that his
beard began to grow. Aaron wore a beard
and Hsculapius is universally represented with
golden beard as big as a dcw-lap. The gods,
too, allowed their boards to flourish most luxu-
rlantly. Jupiter had a precious treasure suspen-
ded to his chin, flowing to his feet like a Staub.
bach; and t'would seem to be far from mean
~ cherished ornament; for Thelis, in the first
book of the Had, wishing to place herself in the
most acceptable posture, took hold of his knees
with her left hand and his beard with her right
The practice of shaving appears always to have
varied with the caprices of fashion in all coun
tries and in all ages; but it wac more generally