Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-04-27
ARouT REARns

The history of hair is Interesting, for mex
to mans head is his hair; and by the philan
thropic rule, s'aihil alienuri humanum,'' it i:
at least worth talking about. 1t is remarka able
that fashion should be as capricious about
boards as bonnets. Excepting few cases oil
conscience, she seems, from the time of No.
seS until now, to have controlled the style OF
boards with her usual despotism. The Jews
| indeed wore their boards with religious care
and considered it in the last degree humilia-
ting to be shaven. 1t was the same in the ear
| iy days of Christianity, and the Savior and all
| the Apostles, save one, represented as
wearing long boards, which we know to have
| been the custom of their times. John alone
! appears in the pictures without beard, de-
! prlyation which contributes q great deal to
| that efieminate look which the painters have
! always given him. With the Greeks and Ro-
mans the fashion was changeablc, as it was al
| SO with the Saxons. The Greeks usually wore
| their boards, except when in mourning. The
! Romans, on the contrary, let their boards grow
as sign of sorrow. Caesar (Augustus) is re-
lated to have trimmed his head in a fashion of
| his own, and once to have cut it all off. Alex
ander the Great reckoned his own beard an
! ornament, but ordered his soldiers to be sha-
ven, because he said the beard ssgave a han
die'' to the enemy, who could thus the more
| easily cut off their heads. The history of the
| beard in Eng land is notable, and shows as
many vicissitudes as there have been political
| mutatIonS-eyery Imaginable style having been
in and out of vogue since the time of the Hep
| tarchy. On the whole, however, boards OF
some torm have carried it against BARRIERS. In
the reign of Henry L, the full beard was in
fashion, though the clergy denounced it as
s'immoral." We have not seen their auth ori-
ties; but they were probably metaphysical,
and about as fine spun as the Old question of
the schoolmen, ssde lana c0prinG.'' In the
reign OF Richard Ceur de Lion, shaving was
again practiced by the great mass of English
men, but the custom changed before the dy-
nasty, and boards were worn before. In
King John's time, some wore boards, some
mustaches, and others shaved the whole face;
exactly the same diversity prevailing under
Johns reign as under the rule OF Victoria. A
similar license of custom prevailed in the
reign of Edward II, though old men and men
of high rank were, for the most part, unsha-
ven. Edward III. was distinguished by a long
flowing beard, and of course shaving was
deemed in bad taste by all loyal subjects.
During the reign of Henry V, Englishmen gem
orally shaved their chins, but wore mustaches.
Henry VIII. wore his beard entire, and in his
usual despotic way commanded the court to
follow his example. ssBloody Mary" looked
upon boards with favor, and none were cut off
during her reign except by decapitation. All
her favorites, dukes, cardinals and bishops,
have come down TO us in their portraits with
long boards. "Queen Bess' was equally par
tial to boards and mustaches, which took, du-
ring her reign, the most varied and fantastic
forms. In the time of Charles |. boards began
to 20 out of fashion, but were restored with
the restoration of Charles IL. WbiSkers and
mustaches continued in vogue for while, but
soon gave way to the razor and presently u
niversa shaving prevailed throughout the king
dom. 1t is observable that in the matter of
boards the Puritan has been changeable
the Cavalier. Cromwell and his psalm singing
soldiers the fiercest kind of mutaches;
and John Knox thundered against pope and
cardinals through beard of patriarchal cxu-
berance. The 'sPilgrim Fathers,' too, were
fond of hair with reasonable trimming, and
no ungodliness in wearing an appendage
which God had made. But the fashion changed
after Il while. and for many years, until quite
lately, clergyman who should so much as
venture on whisker, would have been deem
ed both profane and heretical, and would prob
ably have lost his clerical head for his hair
Such are the freaks OF fashion in matter of
more moment, one would think, than the cut
of coat or the shape of shoe, since Nature
is beyond art, and the work of God OF more
certain worth than any device of man. But
do not propose philosophical, much less
theological dissertation on boards. We will
hazard the assertion, however, that what may
be called the 'snatural'' and the physiological
arguments in their favor have not yet been an
swered. 1t may be added that the beard is a
distinguishing mark of manhood and il has
been hlnted that the appropriate spneres OF the
sexes are plainly indicated by this matter of
beard to the utter confusion of all sstrong
minded women,' from Mary Walstoncraft to
Lucy Stone. 1t is asserted, also, that only
those who have shaved many years, and thus
stimulated an unnatural growth of hair. find
their boards (when at last permitted to grow
long) coarse, harsh and nconvenent. This
is probably true but it may fairly be doubted,
in such cases, whether it be not better to keep
on shaving. In respect to appearance, we
think nine men of every ten look considera
bly, the for their beards-such as they
are. The exceptional man is sometimes the
handsomer for his hair. On the whole, we
are of opinion that the strength of the argu-
ment lies on the hrsute side of the question.
Meanwhile we shall continue to patronize the
barber as heretofore.