The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-05-09
.asomsth5Rg about near.ls.

much stretch of the memory either
when the wesrer of q neustache vas
supposed to advertise himself as q
ro@dy, and when to allow the face to
60 unshayen--save perhaps a small
portion of the cheeks, which social
morality excluded from the general
law-was to suffer voluntary ostracism
from all circles which paid due re-
gard to their own character or that
OF their associates. AS to professed.
Christians, not to mention ministers,
wearing full boards, or the semblance
OF hair on the upper lip, the thought
would have been too horrible to CON
template.
"Times change and we change with
Shem. Boards have, for some rea-
son, become o fixed fact, and are
quietly accepted as such, though,
perhaps, not without some mental
protest. Possibly California had
something to do with this, perhaps.
the Mexican war, and Colonel Mays
famous charge at Resaca de la Palma
who knows, Or who can follow the
rise and fall of any fashion? An
English writer attributes the change
OF sentiment in England to the re-
turn of the bearded heroes from the
Crimea; but in America the fashion
dates anterior to that event. This
writer gives, in Cassel's Maqazine. the
results Of some antiquarian study on
the subject of boards, from which we
coudense few passages.
''The history of the beard is not
an uninteresting subject of research,
considering the important part it
has played in the world. Most like
ly Tubal Cain drove good trade in
razors. At all events, we read of
shaving at a very early period as an
established custom. Joseph, released
from prison, could not thing of going
before Pharaoh until he had shaved
his beard Herodotus tells us that
the early Egyptians always shaved,
and made their slaves follow their
Yet, with singular incon-
sistency, these people wore false
boards as q distinguishing badge of
rank. Great personages-kings and
gods-wore great boards; the former
a huge square miracle of curling
tongs, the latter large one, turned
up at the end. Little people had
little boards according to their little
ness, small tuft at the extremity of
the chin; while slaves, who were
thought nobody, had, very properly,
no boards at oil. In their sculpture,
the Egyptians depict their enemies
with slovenly, untidy, and contempt
ible boards. But the Ninevites grew
the finest boards of remote antiquity.
''The Hebrews wore hair on their
chins, but not on their upper lips or
cheeks. They resented an
outrage offered to the beard as the
most bitter insult possible to enmity.
. The Turks would rather be
publicly whipped and branded with
a hot iron than be shaved, while the
Arabs protect their beard as an arti-
Gle of religious faith, because the
Prophet never cut his. Hence O.
sultan has never known razor to his
head, though he is very particular
about shaving his slaves in the
seraglio as token of their seryitude.
''The beard has been worn as
badge of royalty, ecclesiastical dis
tinction, and of certain professional
attainments. The old French kings
were great on boards. Some even
wore theirs, like the old kings of
Persia, knotted with golden thread,
and buttoned with gold. Being per-
mitted to touch a kings beard was
long held by the Gauls as pledge of
protection; and for long while the
sovereign used to place hairs of his
beard in the seal of his letters, in
witness of his own hand and chin.
"King Robert of Franco, in the
tenth century, used to wear his long
white beard in battle displayed over
his cuirass; and the sight of it fre-
quently nerved tagging troops, and
secured him victory over his enemies.
Henry the Fourth of France was re-
nowned for his beard. When
Louis the Fourteenth adopted the
new mode, the fashion grew general,
till it became usual for beaux of the
period to carry whisker-wax in their
pockets, together with a small comb
and brush, wherewith their mistress
es might arrange their NOUS
taches.
1.-The church has always had some
thing to say about boards. Some
times its followers hove baar on io;pa al