The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-01-06
ABOUT Boards.
Some Intere,tIne Historical and Physf-
cnl Facts.

Some IntereitIne Historical and Physi-
cul Facts.
When Moses led the children of Israel
through the wilderness they were COM
ma lded not to mar the corner OF their
boards. II every man OF them had had
to shave before he received grain OF
mama, Moses would have been spared
some exceedingly unpleasant scenes.
Alexander was wiser. During his
campaigns the barber was more regu-
lar Than the ration. Having shown to
the world the beauty of the human
countenance, a beauty-loving race
like the Greeks did not hesitate to
appreciate it. Shaving became the
fashion. and tue young Athenian spent
his morning at the BARRIERS, where he
met his friends and exchanged gossip.
That disagreeable person, Diogenes,
sneering,y asked q handsome young
man, whose face was fresh as a rose,
" Ale you angry at Nature because she
| did not make you a woman" The
beard, which had been considered
sign of wisdom, was carried to such an
excess by the would-be philosophers
that the shrewd Athenians were apt
TO remark, HAS WISDOM stopped at
his beard ?" But when true phi
losopher arose he shaved Socrates is
| spoken of as magistrum barbatum."
That great general, Scipio Africanus,
introduced shaving into Rome. When
the Roman youth first shaved his down
was placed In box aud offered to the
gods, and the day was celebrate as a
tete. The American youth, having re-
Gently purchased razor, seeks a seclu-
ded spot and bolts the door. After
ward he sips off to retired restaurant
for dinner, not daring to meet his little
brother at the dinner-table
The beard, in its theological aspect, is
OF considerable significance. 10 the
Turk every hair is sacr d, each having
been given in charge of an angel. The
Iartars not only y possess a religion of tbe
beard, but peculiar cut is essential to
salvation. The Persians, who prefer an
other fashion, they call inidels- These
chronic wranglers, the fathers, held
a variety OF opinions about it, each
doubtless prompted by his Individual
success in card raising. Clement OF
Ale txandria held to boards. Terlu'ian
brought forward canon commanding
them. The council OF Barcelona
decided in their favor. Leo III. who
could raise no beard, declared them
snares of vanity, and prohibited them.
| The Latin priests, who were looking
unusually patriarchal rebelled, and the
church was divided.
The Latius went as clean-faced as
babies until 963, when Pope John ven.
tured on beard, but he was deposed.
The council Of Lemago left the question
to the priests themselves, but Gregory
VII. renewed the war, and though re-
sisted by the French clergy, boards were
doomed.
In the sixteenth century the question
| in, tr fbo In M
the French kings who wound their
boards with ribbons-But what the
council could not effect fashion did
When Louis XIII. assembled the throne
a beardless youth, courtier5 and priests
sacrificed their boards. The same thing
happened in Spain with the succession
of Philip ", who having no beard
commanded them to shave. But they
obeyed but murmuring the while. In
losing our boards we are losing our
souls"
Among nations the fashions of boards
was generally established by the sover-
eign. There is quaint little book,
" Revolution de la Barbe," which de.
tails its vicissitudes. The French have
| always taken great interest in boards.
The incroyable of the s xteentn century
retired witt his beard in a sack, lest in
it's elegance it might be disturbed
When William the Conqueror Ian led in
England the British spies reported that
he had brought an army OF priests, so
closely shaven were his men. 1t was
said by the French tfat William was
born TO give boards to the English, as
the S2Xons were compelled by him to
cave or shave. Charles III. shaved his
beard and piled the hair on his head
George III. invented the mutton chop
We all remember the snow white beard
of Sir Thomas NJ ore, who begged that
it might be spared the block, saving :" it
had committed no treason" Nature is
perfectly willing to relinquish all
right to this masculine feature,
get is often obliged to wear it
Margaret of Parma, who governed the
| Netherlands, had a fine growth oi which
she was very proud land Charles XII. OF
Sweden had famous female grenadier
whose beard measured yard and a
na)f. In the museum at Stuttgart there
IS portrait of famous bearded wo
man named Barbara Graetie. Macbeth
had no reason for doubt when he said
to the witches: You should be wo-
men, yet your boards forbid me to in
Cerpret that you are So"
Many women have that faint sug
gestion on the upper lip which the
French especially admire, making vir-
Tue OF necessity.
Tue last epoch of boards began with
the French evolution. The stiff formal
ities of tue court lie and the carefully
| trimmed whlskers vanished with the
mead of Louis XVI. Long hair and
ample boards showed independence.
English conservatism revolted at French
radicalism, an. the matutinai cup OF
water became an important part OF the
| Englishman's existence.
The Crimean war brought into favor
the Arabs mustache and the Juave
dress. Napoleon Ill. revived lhe Il
shape in his mustache anu imperial.
During the civil war General Burnside
was the originator OF II very popular
cut, and the Grand Duke Alexis gave
particular bias to American whiskers.
The popular shade OF whiskers is
lawny. TINS is due to noveIists; the
words look well in print. The color is
| :. mud ri u va loW