The Republican journal., 1871-12-21
on of Independence wore a beard.


cept The present one, had shaven faces
Fancy George Washington with nous
tache There seems to be really no nat
ural connection between HAIR and hero
ism.
If we turn to those eminent in litera
ture and art - authors, poets, philoso
piers, painters, &c.-we find the follow.
ing who present to the public shaven
faces in portraits-Adam Smith, Horace
Walpole, Shakspere, Dr. johnson, Bishop
Warburton, Washington Irving, Southey
Byron, Foote, Garrick, Goldsmith, Sheri-
dan, Patrick Henry, Burke, Coleridge,
Webster, Clay, Randolph, Lord Broug-
ham, Burns, Walter Scott, Sterne, Steele,
Fielding, Cooper, Leigh Hunt, Milton,
Gray, Smollet, DR.. Robertson, Hume,
Gibbon, Ben Franklin, Bunyan, Mozart,
Handel, Haydn, Pope, Goethe, Sir Isaac
Newton, Pitt, Fox, Tom Hood, Herschel,
Cowper, Hogarth, Talleyrand, Words
worth, Campbell, Cowley, Tom. Moore,
Thomson, Swift, Sidney, Dryden, Dr.
Watts. Lord Bacon, and hundreds of
Others Do boards and brains necessarily
keep company?
81 swear by the beard of my father,'
was the most sacred oath of the Arab,
says n But the Chinese, on the other
hand, regard the long plat of hair hang
ing down the back as more sacred than
anything else, though we cannot say that
they are accustomed to swear, ''hy the
tail OF my father If they do, their ex-
ample should have as much more force
as the Johns are more numerous
Further says n
Greece shaved after it lost its liberty. Rome
in its decline, in despair or phrensy, clutched
the razor.
Such are not the teachings of history.
The American Cyclopedia (Appleton's)
vol. ;, p. II, says
Previous to the reign of Alexander the Great,
the Greeks wore boards, but during the wars
OF that hellicoSe monarch, they commenced
shaving, the practice having been suggested,
it is said, by Alexander, for the military pur-
pose OF depriving their enemies of an oppor-
tunity of catching the soldiers by the beard. in
the course of the tug of war;
So it really appears that the only con-
querer of the world, fought his battles
with shaven soldiers. The same authori-
ty says
The year 45i B. C. is given as the period
when the Romans first commenced the practice
of shaving, and we have the authority Of
Pliny for the statement that Seiplo Africanus
was the first of the Romans who submitted to
the daily Use of the razor.
Gibbon fixes the date at which Rome's
decline began at A. D. 100. or 634 years
after the Romans commenced to shave.
50 they had that length OF time on the
upward grade after they had "clutched
the razor"
Without saying that all shaven men are
virtuous and good, the fact that man SO
cares for his appearance is strong pre-
sumption in his favor Would any paint
er venture to portray a gang OF clean
shaven pirates compelling honest and
bearded mariners to walk the plank
Have not rutfians and Instruments of
tyranny been always unshaven Says
Campbell
"When leagued oppression poured to northern
wars
Her qchiskered pandoors and her fierce huzzars,
Tumultuous horror hrooded DER the van,
Presaeing wrath to Poland and to man.
Again says n
I do not contend that this honored custom is
altogether without exception. For instance,
when one desires to step back in years, to meet
or make matrimonial advances; or In other
words, when old men play the lover, shaving
is not only proper but highly commended, as
in Much Ado About Nothing.
Customs have changed since Shakspere's
SINE and if man daairna 10 assume the
dignity and beauty of a beard, and
youthful one in appearance, he can do so,
unless one of those resolved to "never
say dye When old men WOO, it is not
always with the counterfeit of youth.
Their successful card is the display Of
wealth. Says Byron, than whom no one
knew better the rules of love
'Maidens, like moths, are ever caught by glare,
And Mammon wins his way where seraphs
might despair
The main objection to full boards is
that they are uncleanly, The natural
respirator needs more frequent unlading
of impurities than it gets-and much more
so when it becomes natural spittoon.
The moustache is beaded with tobacco
spittle, it is a straner of coffee and soup,
is CREASED with gravy, perfumed with
onions, anointed by butter, and stuck
with pastry and confectionery. 1t con-
ceals the face, and the beholder and
wearer lose the expression of the mouth,
one of the most beautiful and mobile OF
the features. 1t is a great impeachment to
speech AT best the beard can but be re-
garded as an eycrescence or appendage,
like the nails or hair, constantly renewed,
and to be worn or not, as individual taste
may dictate. The custom of wearing il
in full is, however, one much more hon
ored in the breach than the observance