The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1871-03-16
Is it EiYeminate to Part Your Hair
In the Iidd1e9

In the Fiddle
This subject receives the attention
Of the Petersburg Daily lnder in the
following manner
"The newspapers have amused
themselves By discussing the reasons
weighty and light, which have in
dnced General Grant to dlsapprove o,
Minister Motley.
"The latest idea on tho subject ID
that General Grant objects to Mot
leys manner Of parting his hair
Thereupon the Richmond Whig
says:
an indication Of weakness, and his
tory gives no mention Of b grea,
man indulging in such effeminacy
Motley deserved his fate he was
unfit to represent o nation of stal
wart freemen.
"Thls is but small matter, bu,
why pander TO prejudice, honest il
may be, but based on nothing better
than . marrow, local, provincial view
Of fsshion. n.
"Has the writer Of the above ever
seen the portrait Of John Randolph
which hangs in the Stats Library
HE hair WAS parted inthe middle.
y is fashion that wss followed By
hilton, by Charles I. Of England, by
the great Lord Peterborough, by
Prince Rupert and bic Aercs troop.
|ers, BY Aloibiadee and By Julius
Cesar. n
what nonsense 70 talk about the
efominancy Of . fashion, merely be-
cause We ourselves, in this little Dor.
tlon OF the earth, do not follow il.
"ln England men say Thanks,
yes. and Thanks, no. and in Bna.
land men part their hair in the
middle. Yet Englishmen are not
eneminate. But . few short years
ago men in Virginia held it mon.
stross for . youth to wear the
moustache, to smoke . pipe, to play
on the piano. No man continues 70
think 80. But We cling 10 this great
notion about the parting of the hair,
as II it were of public concern to
insist on any suoh matter.
ut means that man is . DANDY,
they cry. Suppose it does, what
harm in that2 Button was q dsndy.
70 vas Milton, D'Orsay, Nurat,
rrenck, Churchill, Raleigh, Mark
Cesar, Alcibiades, Psrioles,
and countless others among those
who have chiefly swayed the
thoughts and deeds Of men. Il 10
very probable that the natural mode
of arranging the hair is the parting
n the middle, and the other fashion
same in whom mon ceased TO curl and
began to crop their locks. Greek
statutes and busts, and what remains
u ancient art, all attest that this
vas once the universal fashion.
Twas with flowing looks thus ar
.anged that Roman leaders led the
egions to oonstant victory. Twas
With hair 80 arranged that the blonde
warriors OF the North, Vandal and
dun. and Goth, poured down into
3oushern Europe, and forced their
way into evcry country OF the world,
Is then known, to found kingdoms
md renew society.
"but suppose all this wore not so. !
At least, oh merciful censor of the
Whig, leave Us this little liberty.
What with test oaths, taxes, droughts,
reshets, fires and woes OF every
kind, We have hardly moro than the
light to life. Give US the privilege
u dressing % we will. Let alone
hc hair Of the mon (what litsle of it
he war has left), let alone tho pan.
O, the chignon, the peaeant-ourl."
"ln one word, ell wo ask is, "To be
OF alone"
-. IN. Bit is just possible that the !
Wig was only making fun, and its
'rticle was, as Artemus Ward would
ay, "wrote sacastikul."
"lf so, We beg its pardon, and we |
Ight on that line"