The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1865-06-24
The Beard.

htuu Will DehTub, anu III very ancient tlmeS
| the use of a razor was unknown. In
Greece, the first instance of shaving occur
red in the reign of Alexander the Great.
This warrior ordered the Macedonians to
be shaved lest the boards of his soldiers
shouip afford handles to their enemies.-
The sarcastic Diogenes, when he once saw
some one whose chin was smooth, said p: II
am afraid you think you have great ground
to accuse nature for having made You q
man and not woman" In Cicero's time
the genuine beard was not worn in society.
But the barbulG lgoatee) seems to have
been affected by the young Roman "swells. +"
The beard began TO revive again in the
time OF the Emperor Hadrian. But of all
the emperors who wore that ornament, none
creates 80 much interest in posterty as the
emperor Julian. His beard is the most ia
nous beard in history. Speaking of it, he
says: 81 commenced with my csuntenance.
It had nothing regular or. particularly
agreeable about it and out of humor and
whimsicality, and just to punish it for not
being handsome, have made it ugly by
carrying this long and peopled beard"
The Britons, like the ancient Gauls, al
lowed the hair to grow thick on the head ;
and, although they shaved their boards
| close on the chin, wore immense tangled
monstaches, which sometimes reached their
breasts. =
1t may be presumed that the northern
bnatiOns felt the symbolic force of these ap-
pendages we have we'll known passage ih
Tacitus about the Catti, who he says, made a
general custom OF what, among other Ger
| man people was an affair of private daring,
the letting the "crinem barbamque" grow
till they have killed an enemy. The Nor
mans when they conquered England, we're
we'll shaven on the back Of the head as on
the face; but the Saxons wore tull boards.
10 Edward lis reign, boards were worn
eccasionly by persons in years, great Off
Gees Of State, and knights templars, bat not
generally Sir John Vaudeville, the trave-
ler, who died A. ID. 1872, was called Sir
John with the-Beard presumably from its
size. In Edward Ills time-the hey day
of chiyalry, of feudal ornament, of love
poetry, of heraldry--long beard and fine
mpstache were In honorable estimation
10 Richard II.'s reign, the fashion contin-
ued. The beard was "forked, and in
all knightly ef6gaes the mustache is long
and dropping on each side Of the mouth.
A sober and we'll governed gentleman of
EliEabeth's time, regulated his beard as he
did his dress, mind, manners and conduct.
1t was an index of his status or profession !;
an emblem of his feelings and tastes-a
symbol to be respected like his coat Of arms.
The Reformer, j ohm Knox, cherished a
large and profuse one, obviously from its
patriarchal character, from the honor
shown it in the Jewish days, from whose
sentiment he drew his inspiration. 4. The
scholar, such as George Buchanan, wore it
sometimes as one who followed Knox and
Calvin. "'
The hair as we all know, played an i'm
portant symbolic part IN the civil wars of
England and the same rigor which the Pn-
ritan exercised on 1.-The head he exercised
on his chin, and trimmed his beard as close
~ as he trimmed his locks. The Vandyko
beard is the typical one of this period
Peaked boards and mustaches were popu-
lar among the cavaliers and were at least
pretty generally worn. i%2 i-1o- fe f
Boards went out of fashion for more than
two hundred years among the Anglo Sax
ons of Europe and America !; but they have
been revived again, and are now cultiva-
ted and defended upon scientific consider
ations a" s-A " . ".'f .a'
Auo u'usIaCuo 10 aPProVeu BECAUSE III Is
said to be natural respirator; a defense to
the lungs against the inhalementA of the
dust, and tho beard is defended as protec-
tion for the throat against cold. 1t has
been recommended that all preachers who
are subject to throat diseases should allow
their boards to grow. Travellers in sandy
regions, millers, bakers and all mechanics
should allow the beard free play. -a.aaa"