The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-09-28
M
THE FNsSISE BANG
A Dissertation on Foreioclss
Philadelphia Times,

Philadelphia Times.
Passing strange, and beyond the compro'
hensi)n of man, are the ways OF lovely
woman in regard TO her hair. Man may ad-
mre and wonder and criticise and advise.
The wiser man lie, the more he will restrain
his criticism and withhold his advice 1t is
on woman's head that tho hair in question is
found growing, and not on his. Gracefully
but forcibly does she remind him of this
when no Offers his suggestions for the
amendment or the abolition of any of her
fancies in its decoration. With revolving
years changing fashions assert themselves in
the arrangement of the feminine hair. Some
times the style is marked by severity Of
plainness, and sometimes by wealth of
putfs and frizzes and mounds and punches
and elevations and depressions and curls and
waves and twists and plaltings and Draidings.
Sometimes il rises from the crown of the
head in Il mass like the turban of q Moham-
medan, aud again the mass drooPs behind
and rests upon the back Of the neck. 1t has
been limited that some ofthe hair on the head
of lovely wymen does not grow there. That
is nobody's business. 1t evidently grew
somewhere, and somehow or other attained
its present position; and that is all we have
to do with 1t.
The latest and most attractive of the deco
rative forms in which lovely women has
chosen to arrange her hair is known rs the
bang. The bang is one of the most III
traetive embellishments ever exhibited on
the feminine head, even if it be not the most
Il u - 1.Ntk H.
young ladies and elderly ones, with
out regard to size, weight or style
of physique and is supposed by the wearers
countenance and forehead. The bang is of
short and straight hair, which hangs over the
forehead like that of the old-fashioned little
school. boy, en- whose head bowl was placed
when his hair was about to be cut, to form
the guiding line for the clip of the scissors
There are bangs which look ike the frayed-
out selvedge of cocoa door-mat. These are
said TO be- esteemed particularly elegant
There are others which seem 10 be made Of
twisted wickerwork. As the lady who wears
this kind approaches from distance she APP
pears as if carrying willow basket on her
head, the scalloped border of which de-
scends nearly to her eyes. Some ladies
must use muCilage or glue or other adhesive
substances in order to keep their bangs from
frisking and wandering away from where
they are put. Perhaps this is one of the
secrets CT the toilet, concerning which men
ought TO dwell in ignorance. Yet here is
where part of mans wonder comes in.
If some of these bangs are not thus made
to adhere to the forehead, how do they main
tain their position? There is style Of adhe-
sye bang which is said to look like the Red
sea wa es, and it would indeed resemble
them if the waves were gummed to anything.
The statement that this sort of bang IS sold
III the stores by the yard and put on Ike so
much sticking plaster Is base
libel on the art of personal
decoration. As to the orig
of the name bang, it is shrouded in mystery.
With banging the door it evidently has nc
connection, as the name refers TO the halr
and not TO the door. And yet it is possible
that the originator of the bang did on a GER
tain occasion bang the door and found .hel
front hair suddenly cut off on the even line
by being acadehtly caught as the door thu:
banged shut. 1t is said by some young la
dies vino are addicted to slang that the name
is q contraction of "you be hanged" Yet i,
is difficult to see what being hanged has to
do with hair that is hardly two inches long
If ladies want to be hanged they should usC
the back hair, which by its length is better
adapted for the purpose Absolem vas
hanged by his hair in an oak tree. dc
wore his hair long and not banged.
The most remarkable development of
history in regard to the bang is that two
eminent ecclesiSstcs have seen fit to bestoV
special notice upon it. These reverend gen
tlemen esteem the bang an offense and senC
official word to the ladies under their juris
diction misunderstanding the arraying of tn
hair in this fashion. The consequences Q
this are difficult to foresee. Woman ma,
rise in rebellion or she may meekly obey. |
is just as she takes the fancy. She can de
clare war or she can gracefully submit an(
trim her hair in other of thu
many fashions which are quite as beau
titul. The danger is that the decree sgains
the bang will rouse the force of the femi
nine will in favor of continuing it. II ma,
even be that oman will, in defiance of c
clesiastcal authority and in contempt o
churchly suggestion, make the bang longe
and broader and more astonishing in its up
pearsnce than it has been. 1t may yet cove
half the face, leaving peep-holes for the eye
and window for the nose. In view of thi
and inbred possibilities it would be well 70
the ecclesiastics to let the bang alone ant
confne their advice to the grave theological
matters of which they are far more the mas
tiers than they are of the rig OF woman
hair