Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-06-30
HISTORY or THE BEARD.


Not many years ago, it was hardly
respectable TO wear beard but the
beard movement, resisted and ridiculed
at first has conquered, and it grows
moro and more the fashion TO grow on
the face as full a covering of hair as
can be coaxed out. "The beard, the
natural clothing of the chin" says a
very old English writer, "was in an
cient time looked upon not as trouble
some burden, but as a dignifed orna.
ment of ripe manhood and old age"
Our present generation, however, cares
nothing for "digniied ornament" in
dress, but very much for convenience
and uulitarianism. 1t secs in the
beard, and above all, in the moustache,
natural defence for the throat and
face against the cold, and equally in
warm climates, protection Of those
parts against excessive heat. Persons
who wear moustaches are said, on good
authority, TO be less liable to toothache
than others, and il is also said that the
teeth are less apt to decay. The beard
and moustache equalize the tempera.
ture to the parts they cover with their
protection. The sappers and miners
of the French army, chosen in part for
the size and beauty of their boards,
enjoy an especial immunity against
bronchitis and similar evils. 1t is re.
lated that Walter Savage 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 lot the
beard grow. aye shall not round the
corners Of your heads; neither shalt
thou mar the corners thy beard, " says
the Scripture in Levitcus. In ancient
times all men and gods wore boards.
The glory and beauty of Jupiter's
beard was dwelt on by Homer, when
the father Of gods aud men is first
brought into the Iliad.
Alexander the Great first introduced
shaving, saying that in his Asiatic
wars the boards of his warrior " "might
offer q handle TO the enemy" 1t be.
came the mark OF a fine gentleman TO
wear no beard in Greece, and dandies
even removed them by "sharp pitch.
plasters," as well as razors. Rome
began TO shave about one hundred and
fifty years before the Christian era.
Scipio Africanus, the younger, il is
said was the first Roman gentleman OF
note who shaved every day. In
Caesars time, young gentlemen Of fash
ion wore a slight goatee, but the full
beard was only worn in mourning or
in days Of great public calamity. Caesar
Augustus and Nero were close shaved,
but the beard revived again under
later Emporors. The ancient Britons
cut off their boards upon the chm, but
wore long, shaggy hair and enormous
tangled moustaches. A young bar
barian IN some German tribes never
reaped his chin" till he had slain an
enemy, The Saxons wore the nous.
tachc, the Normans shaved. Peter
the Great, desirous Of de-Rusianizing
his subject, imposed graduated tax
on boards. Men of the upper classes
paid one hundred rubles (s7O) yearly
for the privilege of not shaving their
boards, and poor people kopee (about
one cent? apiece. Close shaven faces
came back among our ancestors with
Charles H., being another of the things
Tor which England had no reason To
thank the restoration. During the
reign of the four Georges cropped chins
were universal, and though our grand
fathers still sneered at beardless
boys as figure of speech, they daily
labored to be beardless themselves
Anoat and ashore, whatever the diff.
culties of the operation, officers, sol
diers, and seaman shaved every day
During the past fifty years boards have
been first tolerated as eccentric, then
accepted as optional, and at last have
been restored TO fashion and honor
We now hold with one Of the old bards
who celebrated Henry Wills beard
that
/ A weli-thatchsd face is a eomely grace,
| And 4. .h.i,.. F,or, the colI