Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-02-21
The Beard-To Shave or Not to Shave.

| From the Rural New Yorker.
Men may laugh and sheer at the fol
lies of female fashions in dress, thei1
chignons and bustles, their rats and
panniers. and deplore the injury they
receive from their corsets and high.
heeled shoes, but the sneers come with
an i'll grace from those men who try
with razor to make female face
their own. The time has been when
both sexes looked upon full flowing
beard as ridiculous and ugly if not sin
full, and minister has been censured
for his foppishness in leaving his whis-
kers to grow for an inch below the hair
of his head, and man has reproved,
in all honesty, his brother church mem
Der, for letting his beard get over a
week old, without even admitting his
excuse that his razor. WAS dull and he
had no bone to sharpen it with. Ihave
even heard the question debated by old
codgers whether or no beard was one
Of the curses bestowed upon man for
his sin in eating the forbidden fruit.
But the times have changed, people
think more, and reason from a more
rational basis, and full beard has be-
glory to man as much as long hair is to
q woman, IS is said by Paul to the
Corinthians. The tables are now turn
ed, and the tops are those that shave.
Not SO much those who make clean
business of it, as those who shave only
part; the most sedate of whom shave
only the upper lip, the next iii order
of propriety those who shave the chin,
leaving the extreme of foppishness to
those who shave all but the upper lip.
The changes which time works in
popular opinion are wonderful and
often ludlcrous. A gray headed,
smooth faced deacon, some twenty
years ago. while Willing away an hour
with his grocer who wore the beard on
his throat as "covering," expressed
his respect Of the grocer's general
morality, but reproved him severely
for the "fo-o-o-olish fashion" of letting
the hair grow on his face. Grocer re-
piled, "Man was made with beard on
his face" How do you know" says
the deacan thinking evidently of the
profanity in denying it to be one of
''causes."') 81 know" replied the
grocer, "because find it on him. and
believe it to be given to him by his
Maker for a wise purpose, and the
foolish fashion you speak of is in
shaving it off, and trying to thwart the
designs Of your Maker" This theology
was too deep for the deacon.
A man expressed to his wife a pro-
found respect for her married sister;
the wife replied "she thinks much of
you but she cannot tolerate your
"Oh," says he, "she will
get over that, they are becoming fash
lonable." Not she" was the reply,
she cares little for fashion, but great
deal for propriety" Twenty years
afterwards this lady saw this sister trim
ming, brushing, and admiring her hus-
bands long white flowing beard.
The word barber comes from barb,
which is synonymous with beard, and
4 historian says that the word barbar-
ous was originally applied to those
savage nations who cut off the beard,
70 prAuent it from being Z, handle to
lust ike soap1n 1g f fghting dog to give
nim an advantage of his adversary.
Who that has worn his beard for a
few years like man, and given his
razor to his wife to pare his corns with,
used up his soap on his hands, and put
nis brush to 81 new use, could be in
1uced to resume the legitimate use Of
the razor, and thus endanger his health,
waste hours per week wickedly, pay a
weekly salary to his barber, wear
patches On his face to staunch the
blood, and appear before the world with
a mutilated countenance
A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN must be healthy,