Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-11-02
M|isttllaueuns &eadin9.
A CHAPTER on Boards.

only to the man thai asks II, yet IL was all the
difference ut one time between ostracism and
being in the STYLE and at another of coming
within the bounds of Mother Church and be-
shave to-day unless he belongs to certain
sect. for it is a sufficient mark of contempt to
call a man s'no beard" and an insult not to
he borne to threaten to tear it, while you can
! wish the Moslem no better fortune than that
his beard may grow. When Selim [. in the
sixteenth century dared to shave off his beard
he shocked the Faithful more than if he had
cut off the whole population of conquered
town. 1t was bold act for him to smile at
the Mufti's remonstrance.
1t is sign of the complexity of the differen-
| tiatiOn of modern civilization. Herbert Spen-
Ger might say that every man wears his hair
as he pleases or none at all if lie 80 choose.
! That the full beard is a mark OF savagery was
the opinion of ALMOST all ancient civilized peo-
pies. Consequently the young Roman shaved
when he assumed the pirile tOga, and denomi-
mated all savages by term from which we
! derive the word 'barbarian," meaning beard
! ed. The Romans who played that scurvy
! trick on the Sabine women were probably
| hairy fellows, but their refined descendants
shaved off the hair of all the body except of
! the scalp. When the first barber landed in
Rome from Sicily about three centuries be-
! fore Chlist, the new practice of shaving was
no doubt vigorously denounced by the old
gray boards, staunch conservatives always,
but, like all imported luXuries, it grew into
favor. Those who shave closely have at least
! illustrous examples to point to.
They would hardly 60 so far that even the
hair of the head was not spared. This cleanly
people abhorred hair, that is, natural hair yet
they wore wigs constantly and artificial boards
nt articto
with beard of several days growth they
mean "this fellow was a sloven or of low de-
gree" 1t was mark of distinction on the
part of the warrior returning from the cam
paign, for it meant that he had had no chance
to cut it off. Though they wore no boards
and despised the long-haired and bearded
Greeks, yet they had respect for this natural
excrescence as mark of manhood, and they
wore at times an artificial beard tied to the
head. A smooth-faced, bald-headed man can
claim the Egyptian sculptures as his fashion
plate.
lie who sings to his beard may comb it daily
with assiduous care, and even encircle 1t with
ring if proud of it's length of fament, but he
would hardly follow the Assyrian fashion and
plait it in many rolls and bind it with ribbons,
nor would he put it in a case as the ancient
dwellers by the Nile did with their false
boards. The Israelites who gathered at Jeru-
salem would be his examples, for they were
proud of their unadorned boards, and retained
them even in captivity among the clean-pated
pyramid builders. Joseph shaved himself be-
fore answering the summons of Pharaoh, that
he might not he offensive to the mighty ruler,
which is only an early instance of that capacl-
ty of accommodating themselves to circumstan-
ces which makes the Jew so powerful to-day.
| The beardless face is the fashion of the gla-
diatOr and the prize fighter, for the same rea-
son that AleXander's valiant soldiers shaved
their chins by royal command, in order that
! they might not carry about with them han
die whereby the enemy could seize them. The
reason was good, for there might have been
hostile inquiries for the youthful conqueror on
the part of his own, army. -
| But men who grow boards are as proud OF
! them as of their children. Are they not their
own product and full of individual idiosyn-
I Grassy? Every crinkle means something, if it
represents nothing more than dime saved
| from the barber Peter the Great knew hu-
man nature, and used his knowledge to extort
money from his subjects He laid tax on the
boards, and at first raised more co,nmotion
than money. But the goveG11nent BARRIERS
began shaving off the boards o. delilquents,
when the tax was paid with expedition.
The mustache has been IN Object much So
, licited. The man upon whose upper lip con-
stant shadow hangs, is the one who finds 1t
most necessary to stroke it it must be nursed
and cOaxed. Manhood has advanced its sign,
and the hoy IS sthoughts are always Oh it. With
how much envy he looks on the next young
man whose upper lips crop has a years growth!
It's tiny filaments he endeavors to twist to a
point. He wakes it to make it lie down. The
young man has done this in every age and
cline where hair WAS not despised. 10 return
to the ancient dwellers Ivy old Nile-the young
Egyptian was spared one of the most anxious
periods of life, for his father had shaved him
constantly since lie was five years old, leaving
only a couple of locks to hold him by, should
he prove to be a renegade. Yet the mustache
has been as much preached at as any sin a man
can commit. Englishmen of a century or so
ago, looked on it-that is the mustache solus-
as a French frvoity. The courtly French
man of the time of the Louises trained this
appendage of his face to an unnatural length.
Until recently the English prejudice still
showed itself in regulations which prevented
it's display in the army and among the clergy.
Just now, and among Americans, the mus
tache is the favorite form Of hair upon the
face. In its place it sets off the face, and doc
tors declare that it is of great use in straining
the air which goes into the lungs. Neither
dust nor ordinary smoke will 90 through with
it. When cultivated to excess, it is valuable
as a coffee strainer. The man who, when he
takes spoonful of soup, lifts his mustache
with his left hand, and carefully deposltlng
the side of the spoon on the edge of the cav
ern displayed beneath, tilts it over until the
contents are split, is not graceful object at
dinner In the name of all that is ceanly,
the inveterate tobacco chewer should eschew
either the long mustache or the favorite quid.
| Englishmen and Irishmen to some extent
affect side whiskers Anglomanac Ameri-
cans do the same. Josh Billings, close OBJ
server of human nature, says that nine-tenths
of all the men who wear side whiSkers are
members of some church. Let the reader look
around him this morning and judge if Josh is
not about right. Side whiskers become some
faces. but even Oscar Wilde would not defend
Il red face framed in pale gold Whiskers, as an
object of beauty. There are two varieties OF
this species. One is the rather elegant affair
which is long and slightly scanty of hair. The
other variety is shorter, bushy, and has curl
forward. This is worn by cads.
! The imperial was first cultivated in France.
! When it is full and has an elegant curl it may
be graceful and is always rather becoming. :,
! The goatee-pOpularly supposed to be named
for the odoriferousanimal which wears it has
a smack of humor in it, 1T gives one the i'm
preston that its owner is a jester, or, at least
man full of quaint conceits. On full face
otherwise shaven, it sometimes has comlcal
air.
! How severe is the man who has his whlskers
and beard clipped off square. He is square
also in all his dealings, and measures other
folks morals by rule and plumb. lie would
reduce life to geometrical figures and lay out
the road to Heaven by a species OF theological
trgonometry. His is the ''beard OF formal