The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-03-26

Not many years ago, it was hardly respect
able to wear boards; but the beard move
ment resisted and ridiculed at first has
conquered, and grows more and more the
fashion to grow on the face as full cover
ing of hair as can be coaxed out. THE
beard, the natural clothing of the chin,
says very old English writer, twas in an
clent times looked upon, not as trouble
some burden, but as dignified ornament of
ripe manhood and old age" Our present
generation, however. cares nothing for
"dignified ornament IN dress. but very
much for convenience and utilitarianism.
1t sees in the beard, and. above all,
in the mustache, natural defence for the
throat and face against the cold. and
equally, in warm climates, protection of
these parts against excessive heat. Persons
who wear mustacbes are said, on good au-
thority, to be less liable 10 toothache than
others and il is also said that the teeth are
less apt to decay The beard and mustache
equalize the temperature to parts they cover
with their protection. The sappers and
miners the French army are chosen In part
for the size and beauty of their boards. enjoy
an especial immunity against bronchitis and
similar evils. 1t is related that Walter Saw
age Landor was great sufferer from sore
throat for many years of his life, but was
cured by the surgeon of the grand duke of
Tuscany who advised him to let his beard
grows. "Ye shall not round the corners of
your head, says" the Scripture in Levite ms.
In ancient times all men and gods wore
boards. The glory and beauty of Jupiter's
beard are dwelt upon by Homer, when the
father of gods and men Is first brought into
the Iliad. Alexander the Great first intro
duced shaving, saying that in his Asiatic
wars the boards of his warriors might
afford q handle to the enemy" 1t became
the mark of fine gentleman to wear no
beard in Greece, and dandies even removed
them by '.sharp pitch-plasters," as well as
fo oh hon lS0
years before the Christian era. Scipo Afri-
| canus, the younger. it is said was the Roman
gentleman of note who shaved every dey.
In Cesar's time, young gentlemen of fashion
wore slight goatee, but the full beard was
| only worn in mourning or in days of great
public calamity. Cesar Augustus and Nero
| were closed shaved, but the beard revived
again under later emperors The ancient
/ Britons. cut off their boards upon the chin,
but wore long shaggy HAIR and enormous
| tangled mustachea. young barbarian in
| some German tribes never s'reaped his chic''
| till he had slain an enemy. The Saxons
wore the mustache, the Normans shaved.
| Peter the Great, desirous of de-Russ sianizipg
his subjects, imposed q graduated tax on
boards. Men of the upper classes paid 100
roubles (S70) yearly for the privilege of not
shaving their boards, and poor people q
faces back among our ancestors with Charles
H., being another OF the things for which
| England had no reason to thank the Restora
ton. During the reigns of the four Georges
cropped chins were universal, and though
| our grandfathers still sneered at "beardlesz
boys" as q figure of speech, they daily labor
ed to be beardless themselves. Afioat and
ashore, whatever the difficulties OF the oper
alton, officers. soldiers and seamen shaved
every day. During the past SO years beardI
have been first tolerated as eccentric, ther
accepted - optional, and at last We havs
shean restored tn faahion and honor W.
now hold, with one of the old bsrds wit
celebrated Henry Wills beard. that
A well-thatched face is comely grace,
And shelter from the cold.