Morning journal and courier., 1880-03-06
Historic BaId-heads.

| A correspondent or the Fall Mau Gazette, | descaptipg on badness, cites some eminent | examples, as follows ''If one may fudge | from the exceptional case of Elisha, baldnass | seems to have been considered 0 disgrace among the Jews in remote ages, still a dis l grace with which it was not permitted to re- proach an honorable man. The punishment 1 inflicted by divine interposition and the ex. press solicitation of the prophet, upon forty unfortunate children, seems to persons in the present day-even, it may be added, to those who have lest their hair-rather severe. Loy- CTS of snalogies, coincidences and contrasts | may be invited to remark that the grease of | the wild beasts employed as instruments of vengeance against the little ones who had taunted the good old prophet with his bald ness was in later centuries to be employed as a capillary restorative. The strength of Sam. son and the beauty of Absalom lay in their hair, and there is significance, no doubt, in the fact that through their hair both of them came to grief Among the Greeks, the two most famous bald men were Eschylus and Ulysses The badness of H1scbyIus is known to have been the cause of his death an eaqle carrying tortoise in it's claws having dropped it's prey with view of breaking the shell upon what it took to be rock, and which was, in fact, the shining skull off great tragic poet. The badness of Ulysses is commence rated in the Odyssey and the fearful ven- geance taken upon the suitors of Penelope seems to have been in great measure due 10 the pleaSanCrleS In WnlcA one or them dulged concerning the glittering aspect pre- sented by her husbands cranium. BaIdness, however, was no more admired in those days than in our own and when Ulysses was re- stored to youth stress is laid upon the fact that locks of the most luxuriant kind Were given back to him. Julius Cesar was noto- rious for his badness, and the jokes made on this subject by his soldiers on the occasion of one of his triumphal entries into Rome are only too well known. Nor need the story be here repeated of the pleasure he took in wear ing wreath which covered his depuded tem- ples; and which, according to one Roman his- torian, his chief reason for veluing it. It may be remarked, however, that the lifelke bust of Julius Cesar in the British Museum is not that of man who in the present day would be considered bald. The hair is not thick, and is brushed forward in style which indicates desire to make up for certain want of hair in the region of the forehead and about the temple. Something, however, must be allowed for the complimentary disposition of the sculptor reproducing the head Of an alI- powerful commander and ruler who was known not to be without personal vanity.
 Drunkenness vs. English Prosperity.
 Dr. Webster, United States consul at Shef-
 field in recent dispatch to the State depart ment of the State of labor in Europe" has given the English people hint as to the great cause of the great depression now being felt
 
 Britain and Ireland. The report has been quite extensively copied by the English press, and the archbishop of York in a recent speech at Sheffield and other large manufacturing cities read the report as text, and used it as an incentive to the working classes to heed it's warming and do better in the future. The consul says: "A bold recklessness as to earn ing and spending prevails among the working men. Many man who can easily earn his $14 to $19 week will be satisfied with earn ing half that sum, or just enough to provide him with his food, beer, and sporting, allow ing his wife but mere pittance of his wages for herself and children. Large numbers, who might make themselves independent, make no provision for the future except to pay in- to their club shilling or two week, which assures them, if not in arrears, some aid in case of sickness This method of insurance, good in itself, seems to operate here to para lyze the desire to save. One thing, how ever, seems evident, that, notwithstanding the great depression in the manufacturing interests of Sheffield, there would be but lit tie destitution among the working people but for their drinking habits. Anyone walking these streets will see at once where the earn ings of the workingmen go, and in many cases the earnings of the working women also, for there is in this town far greater popula- Iation of women employed in the heavier kinds of labor than will be found in the cities of the United States, excepting it may be the great cotton manufacturing centers. This fact is to be considered in estimating the amount of earnings that go to the support of families, such earningt being larger than might at first appear. Were the same properly used there would be comparatively little suffering or poverty. The amount spent in intoxicat- ing drinks in Great Britain during the year 1S77 according to the excise returns, was more than $7OO,000, ,000. Shefields share of this ex = nditure would amount to more than $5, ,OOO, ,OOO. A considerable part of this sum klAA nG hNf are termed the working classes. But suf- fcient amount'comes from that source, If sav- ed, to place g. great proportion of them above want. The waste of money on drink implies, also, a Every great lapse of time This amounts, at moderate estimate, to one day a week on an average, to the working man of Sheffield. The loss of one day week to 40,- GOO working men means the loss Of $40, 900 per week at the low estimate of Sl per day each this gives total loss to the working men of Sheffield per year, by lost time alone through drink, of $2, 160,000, and the better the times. the greater the loss. Making all allowances, the foregoing estimates are tboupht to be under rather than over the truth. There is but little doubt in the minds of those who know the working population of Shef-
 field that almost the whole of this loss of time is fairly chargeable upon the drink habit.
 This subject could be followed out to startling results. It is introduced in my dis patch as bearing upon the question of Shef-
 fields and England's ability to continue to compete successfully in the markets of the world with any nation whose producing classes are temperate and therefore industrious and thrifty, a subject to be considered in the dis cussion of the means by which our country can, by an honorable rivalry, attain to com mercial prosperity"
 Dennis factory in Danbury turns oat 800 dozen straw hats per day.
 :x:- ..,A~- L,Il l.A.