Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-04-23

Not many years ago, it was hardly re.
specialize to wear a beard; but the bear
movement, resisted and ridiculed at frs,
has conquered, and it grows more an
more the fashion TO grow on the face ii
full Il covering of hair rs can be coaxr
out. " The beard, the natural clothing
the chin, says Il verv old English writer
was in ancient times looked upon, not II
a troublesome burden. but rs II dignifie
ornament of ripe manhood and old age
Our present generation, however, care
nothing for "dignitied ornament il
dress, but very much for convenience an
utilitariansm. 1t sees in the beard, an
above all, in the moustache, II natural d,
fence for the throat and face against tn
cold, and equally, in warm climates,
protection of those parts against eXcessiv,
| heat. Persons who wear moustaches ar
said, on good authority, to be less lab
| to toothache than others, and 1t is also s.,i
that the teeth are less apt to decay. Th
beard and moustache equalize the temper
ature to the parts they cover with thei
protection. The sappers and miners
the French army, chosen in part lor til
SIZE and beauty of their boards, enjoy a
lNHpCCIal iLlluuull1 dSdluot blpuSiuIS hil
similar evils. IL is related that Waite
Savage Landor was great sufferer frou
sore throat for many years of his life, bu
was cured by the surgeon of the grano
duke of Tuscany, who advised him to lt
| his beard glow. "Ye shall not round til,
corners oil your heads; neither shalt tllot
mar the corners of thy beard" says th
scriptures in LeviticuS. In ancient time.
all men and gods wore boards, The glol>
and beauty OF Jupiter's beard are dwell
upon by Homer, when the father of god,
and men is first brought snto the Had
Alexander the Great first introduced shaw
ing, saying that in his Asiatic wars tn
boards of his warriors might offer :,
handle to the enemy" 1t became tn
malk of fine gentleman TO wear n,
beard in Greece, and dandies even remov
ed them by sharp pitch pasters," Il,
well rs razors. Rome began 10 SHAY,
about one hundred and fifty years befor
the Christian era. Scipio Airicanus, lh
younger. it is said was the frs Roman
gentleman of note who shaved every day
In Caesars time, young gentlemen of fash
Ion wore u Slight goalee, hut the flll bear,
was only worn IN mourning or in days ut
great public calamity. Cesar Augustu
and Nero were close shaved. but the bear
revived again under later emperors. Th
ancient 3rtons cut of their boards upon
the chin, but wore long. shaggy hair AN.
enormous tangled mouslaches. A youne
barbarian in some German tribes never
" reaped his chin " till he had slain III
enemy. The Saxons wore the moustache
he Normans shaved. Peter the Great
desirous Of de-Russianizing his subjects
imposed Il graduated tax on boards. Mer
of the upper classes paid one hundred
roublcs (seventy dollars) yearly for the
privilege Of not shaving their boards, and
and poor people kopec (about one cent?
apiece. Close-shaven faces came back
among our ancestors with Charles H., be-
ing another of the things for which Eng.
land had no reason to thank the Restora
lion. During the reigns Of the four
Georges cropped chins were universal,
and though our grandfathers still sneered
at beardless boys " rs II figure of speech,
they daily labored to be beardless them
selves. At1oat and ashore, whatever thu
difficulties of the operation, officers, sol
3iers and seamen shaved every day. Dnr-
ing the past fifty years boards have been
first tolerated as eccentric, then accepted
as optional. and at last lave been restored
to fashion and honor. We now hold, with
one of the old barls who celebrpted Henry
Wills beard, that
we'l-thatched face is a conely grace,
And shelter from the cold.