The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-04-24
For the National Fra.
H A | R.
BY GAIL HAMILTON.


and strength undated, his own daring hand
shaped for himself and his pitiless foes COM
mon grave. Ever since, the world has gone sor-
rowing, because there was none left to bear his
name or inherit his glory.
Is the worlds sorrow well-timed?
Fair lady, standing dreamily before your
mirror, do you ever think how much your great
strength lies in the "nut- brown" waves or jetty
curls, among which your white fingers glance
in and out so carelessly? The contour of your
Grecian brow is faultless; the light of your
dark eye flashes right royalty. Fancy the white
expanse of the one unbroken, and the brilliance
of the other unshaded by those soft, damp
tresses-and would you still go on conquering
and to conquer?" Nay, believe me, you are
lineal descendant of the Hebrew athlete for
the secret of your great strength lies in your
hair.
Pity it is, oh woman of the nineteenth GEN.
fury! that you do not make the most of this
valuable commodity greater pity, that you
occasionally go still further, and make the worst
of it.
.
prevailing ignorance of the aesthetics of hair.
l lay it down as a fundamental axiom-a great
first truth-that hair was made expressly to be
beautiful, or, children say, for the fun of it."
To be sure, the psychologist may hint of its
efficiency in protecting the head, but red
bandanna would do the same, and be infinitely
less troublesome. 1t follows, then, that that
arrangement of the hair which shall most er-
press the beautiful is the true arrangement.
Now, if the height of perfection were reached
in the days when a pyramid of hair was erected
on the top of the head, so high that the archi-
tect was obliged to mount ladder in order to
put the finishing to his work. very well. Build
you straightway towers of Babel, that shall
reach unto heaven. Or, if nature intended the
hair to be inter braided, inter-plaited, inter
twined, inter-twisted, be-laced, be-powdered, be-
frizzled and be jugged, then he who inter-braids,
inter-plaits, inter-twines, intertwists, belaces,
be-powders, be-frizzles and be-juggles, the
greatest possible mass of hair in the shortest
possible time, is to be considered nefactor
of his race, and should receive medal from
the humane society. But if, as firmly believe,
the "ultima thule =" is reached only when the
free locks sweep in unrestrained luxuriance
down the falling shoulders, why, oh daughters
of beauty! will you not be persuaded to let your
" Hair in unbound tresses wave
Like a silken, fairy sail y
wave in such guise as best beseems your style
of form and feature-in black, crisp curls, or
soft, brown ripples; or, swelling into gentle
pillows, like a sea Of molten gold? Curls.
have no words to describe them Borrowing
their hue from the ravens wing or the sunsets
glow-lending charm to the plainest face, and
GROWING the beauty of the fairest-imparting
grace, and tone, and life-hitting, dancing,
hooking, floating, swaying gauzily, silkenly,
cloudily, dreamily, aerily, faerily-only the pen
Gil of Titan is their meet interpreter.
ALL well a-dayl Few in this age Of brass can
square their ideas to the Garden of Eden; and
though l rejoice in the thought that there may
be, even insour benighted land, choice seven
thousand who have not bowed the knee to this
hair-dressing Baal yet the great mass have their
hearts fully set in them to do evil and will doubt
less go on braiding and plating and making
hair hideous But while shudder at the thought
of mother Eve in hair pins and puff combs, and
while 1 would gladly cast my little "pebbe
against the tide" yet do not see the necessity
of my sitting in sackcloth for an evil which
cannot remedy. Far better that / should
"Know how sublime a thing tits
To suffer and be strong
I will even do more from the barbarous GUS
toms now prevalent, will gather up the frag.
mentary good-from the bitter flowers extract
such sweets as | may. | will confess that a
French twist" a0eU tUisted, has a smoothness
and gloss not unpleasing to the eye of taste.
will acknowledge, with the deep emotion OF
heartfelt gratitude, its peculiar adaptability to
those heads which have developed internally
rather than externally. / will admit that firm
ly-founded, mathematically- grounded, and COM
pactly built "pug" has a certain substantial,
dignifed, fine-old- nglish-gentleman look,
particularly grateful in these hard times, when
so many princely fortunes, that yesterday went
up like rocket, are to-day coming down around
us in shower of sticks. / am content to ad.
mire the shining bands of hair laid Madonna
wise across marble temples, or sweeping of
the cheek in graceful curls.
But farther than this will not go. To the
whole family of braids and beau-catchers and
knots and puffs, swear eternal hatred In the
enjoyment Of these, my avowed opinions, l live
in their Defence am willing, if need be, to shed
the last drop of my blood.
But, not to wax pugilistic, did you ever OBJ
serve the expression of the hair? Full many a
page of ife's history lies written there, which
he who runs may read. How placidly pure,
how serenely deep, must that soul be, whose
outward demonstrations never cause one hair
to swerve from the path of rectitude-and, on
the other hand, what commotion among the
dieinities within is sometimes indicated by the
commotion without. How do Joy and grief
alike strive to reveal their intensity by the wild
ly disheveled hair What touching hopeless
ness in the wet locks clinging to some pale and
wave-tossed face-at least until the audacious
Holmes rendered it forever ridiculous by drown
ing the fsherman's daughter, and then profanely
making
"Her hair droop round her pald cheeks,
Like sea,weed round clam"
The simple peasant girl of France sits in the
shadow of the vine, flushing, smiling, and half
weeping, under the gaze of eyes that to her
are full OF Heavens own light, and, from very
bliss, her trembling fingers can scarcely twine
the garland that is to wreathe her nburned
brow. The glorious Pompadour-yes glorious,
Tor not even the sin and shame of her sullied
purity could blot out the beauty which Gods
own hand had stamped on those wonderful fea-
tures-the glorious Pompadour reclines on vel
vet and gold in her regal chamber: and while,
under the hands of skillful artists, the stately
edifce of hair and laces and feathers and dia-
monds rises slowly heavenward, learning, wit,
nobility, and even royalty itself, press in to do
her homage.
| She too is happy-it may be.
| And that other rank growth Of the fertile soil
! of France-that