The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1870-06-16
rhe preAent rnaI,ions I'm Irair.

4 From time mmemorlal women have
been deeply interested in head dresses
and the arrangement of the hair. The
long ihea,ldressesworn by ladies
Of rank and fashion in the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, of which illus
trations may be seen in the. Chronicles
of Froissart, appear 10 us ungraceful
and stiff; but no doubt the knights and
DANES Of the period thought them digni-
fled and elegant.
The silver horns mentioned in Scrip
ture as worn by the children of Israel
still ornament the heads Of the married
women among the Druses, and most
probably a bride of Mount Lebanon
feels as much pride in this eccentric
and ineonvenient appendage as the
fair wearer of the most fashionable
chignon could deat a royal drawing
room.
The chignon may be traced to many
coiffures of past ages, although it did
not take the decided form and name
until the close of the year 1869. Chignons
are generally thought to be a modern
style Of couture, but they have been
worn in Normandy during the last two
centuries. In the market places at
Dieppe, TrouTille and other Norman
town the peasants mi ght have been
seen with chignons peeping from their
stiffy-starched white caps long before
this mode of hairtlressing had become
fashionable in Paris and elsewhere.
The semibarbarous tribes, too, of the
Corea, in Chinese Tartary, wear CHG
mons precisely similar to those which
We're in vogue here a few years ago,
while the japanese sleep on wooden
blocks cut to the shape of the neck, to
preserver their pinned and padded heads
of hair intact.
When the chignOn made its first APP
pearance in London and Paris itdid not
give promise of the long and trium
plant career to which it was destined
Who could have anticipated that the
small mushrOom-like coiflures of 1860
would expand to the dimensions ofthose
now in vogue
In the same drawing room may now
be seen the ITALIA of ancient Greece,
the Velta Of the Romans, and Ia mote
de Louis NV, as well as the modern
limitations Of these classical head
dresses.
Although we do not prophesy so long
a reign for the modern chignon as that
of It's Norman model, yet on looking
around us, and seeing so many pretty
faces grazing our balls and tetcs, we are
inclined to ask, whether fashion does
not make the beauty?
the amount Of false and real hair
employed to form these charming colt:
fures should remain an inviolable secret
between the fair coiffeuse and her en-
ployer. 1t is the duty of women to
make themselves As attractive as posi-
bic, and of men to admire the effect,
without prying into the cause.
Never before has fashion kept it
ground against such overwhelming
criticism and abuse as the chignon.
Men of talent have employed their
pens in ridiculing it in vain; the CHG
non continues to increase and prosper.
4 woman will treat the bitterest satire
with profound Indifference where dress
is concerned, and no amount of quiz
zing will make her give up a tavorite
fashion.
The trade in hair is very ilourishing
at the present time We are indebted
to the South of France and Germany
for the finer sorts Of hair, whilst Italy
and Scotland supply the coarser quail
ties.
The chignon Of commerce, sold in
most shops for few shilings, is not
made OF human hair, but manufactured
from mixture of mohair and other
Half padding and talsitv,'
grumhles Il cynical old bachelor