Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-12-28

the king In stature and general appear
2 ance, and they too wore their hair in
tFesses like those of their royal master
; The queen g apartments were at a little
, distance from the palace, and when, af-
ter the fatigues of the chase, the king
would resort there at even, he usually
wore q white mantle wrapped so as
J partially to conceal his features, and
gave a particular countersign to the
sentry at the queens gate. Now one of
the tall body guard was an enterpris-
ing young nObleman, and be betbought
himself a stratagem by which he might
obtain an interview with the queen,
who lived In great seclusIon, but was
reputed as being very beautiful in per-
son, though in intellect rather the re-
verse of bright. Ascertaiuing that
I the king would return at least an hour
later than usual from the chase, on a
particular day, the young guardsmau,
! who bore a remarkable personal
! resemblance to his master, wrapped
/ himself at evening in a white mantle,
! and, having possessed himself in some
/ way of the eOuutersign, passed the sen
/ try at the queens gate, and entered
/ the royal apartments. A fayoring tWi-
/ light prevailed there. The air was
/ languid with the odOr Of essences and
mellow fruits, and the audaeious guard
/ man could see that the queen vas very
beautiful indeed, as ne reelIRed among
! velvet cushions and slipped the beyer-
/ age most IN fashion among the Lom-
bard ladies Of the day, whatever that
/ might have been. On a table before
/ her there was a t0OthsOme spread
! supper for tWO,-and of this the am
| bilious young warrior partook. Then
| he made himself quite az home for an
hour or so, till he thought that it might
aat be safe for him to remain there
I any longer /; SO he kissed her most gra-
eious Majesty the queen,-only think
of that and, quitely Withdrawing
from the premises, returned to his
| own quarters.
He had not been gone five minutes
when the king, wrapped IN his white
mantle, strode past the astOnished SEN
try and entered the queens apart
ments.
Your Majesty does me great honor
this evening, said the partner of his
royal bosom. Ut is not often that
you return so quickly after having
kissed me goodnight"
Ha ha !" exclaimed thequick-wit-
ted monarch, carrying his hand to his
dagger "have we rats here ? | think
| smell one, and so here goes to ferret
him out of his retreat -
Fastening to the dOrmitOry IN which
his fifty guardsmen slept, the king en-
tered softly, armed with his dagger and
dark lantern. There are fifty camp
beds, all in a row, lay his fifty doubles
wrapped, apparently, in deep slumber,
and looking as like each other as a row
of peas upon the half-shell. The king
threw the light of his lantern upon
the first bed, aud, approaching it, laid
his hand lightly over the sleeper's
cart. He sleeps well, thought he
the culprit's heart viii scarce beat so
lightly as that And on he went.
along the row of beds, trying each
sleeper's heart as he went, tut finding
40 hutter until he came to the last.
The sleep of that stalWart young no.
bleman was so calm and deep, appar-
emily, that it might have been taken
fer death, had IL not been accompanied
by a sonorous and healthy sn0re but
when the king came to lay his hand
over the snorer's heart, he found it
beating like a drum.
This is my man, muttered he, be-
tween his teeth His life's blood is
up in evidence against him, and [ will
have it. Then raising his dagger, ne
was about to plunge it into the noble
young snOrers heart when another
idea arrested him. II will not kill
now, thought he. y ustice before
all and he shall have a fair trial on
the morrow. But meantime, here
goes to mark him for [ can hardly
tell one of these fellows of mi ne from
the other, nor from myself, for the
matter Of that And with these
words he gathered together the flow
ing tresses on the left side of the war
riors head, and, having cut them of
with the sharp edge of his dagger,
walked out from the dormitOFy as
softly as he had come,
Morning had hardly daWned when
the king. fumiDg with rage, and bent
on vengeance, ordered his fifty pet
guaTdsmen to be paraded before him,
while he chuckled inWaTdly at his own
sagacity Ia detecting and putting a
mark on the delinquent the night be-
fore. But 10 and behold when the
parade was formed, not man Of the
whole fifty had locks on the left side
of his head for the gay young guards
man, who was wide awake when the
king came to his bedside. had arisen
quitely in the night and docked them
of their tresses all round. And so the
king of the Lombards was baked Of
his vengeance for his fifty noble war
riors all looked so like each other, and
so innocent, there In the gay light of
morning, that he could neither point
out the man who had the palpitant
4 lrenrt, tser Gu7l 10 iu- hiis own 20 order
! his bOdy-guard for execution IN the
/ bulk
In the sixteenth century a curious
/ circumstance threw tresses out Of fash
ion in Eranee,-amOngs men, at least.
Francis L., who wore his hair in that
/ style, met with an accident while en-
gagged In sham fight with snowballs.
He was attacking a position which the
/ Count de Sc. Poi was defending, each
accompanied by his band of followers,
when a hrebrand, thrown by mistake,
| "a rather queer mistake that, by the
! by, not to know q tirebrand from a
SNOWFALL y caught the king upon the
head and burnt off his hair and so
the BARRIERS had plenty to do in clip
ping away the tresses of the cOurtiers
and young men about town, who Of
course could not think Of wearing
their hair differently from the king.
During many years Of the past, and
/ for some fifty Of the present century, it
seems to have been customary for
Americans to shave off all the beard
Even the men of the mountains and
plains-hunters, trappers, and guides
wore no boards, as general thing,
until within few years past. A de-
partUre from this fashion began to ap-
/ pear soon after the discovery of gold in
California, and there is little doubt
that the picturesque appearance pre-
sented by miners returning from the
"diggings" bad much to do with the
/ general Introduction of mustaches and
boards In England these did not be-
come general until after the Crimean
, war, during which struggle the razor
was abandoned by the army,-infautry
as well as cavalry adopting the full
beard, which, with certain mOdihoa-
- aAsff