The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-08-14
The Departing Bang.

When, IN the course OF human events
it becomes necessary for the ladies to
shake off the shackles which bind them
to one form of adornment, and to attach
themselves by equally strong bonds to
another no less absurd, descent respect
for the opinions OF mankind compels the
impartial chronicler of the world S affairs
to declare the reasons which have led
to the change, in order that men may
Judge how far it is justified by the suffer
ings patient women have endured ere
they abandoned the bad to fly to the
worse.
Since the memory of middle-aged
man the favorite style of deforming the
feminine ecountenance has been by means
of the bang. Exactly how the bang
came into use, or how the name origi-
mated, can no longer, with any degree
of certainty, be told; though, since
Webster defines the word as meaning
''to beat, to thump, to knock about, " it
has been supposed by some that the
women who were so treated by their
husbands commonly wore their hair
disordered in front in token of their
misery; while others have conjectured
that it was cut off by the aforesaid hus-
bands as measure of convenience in
order to secure better hold for the
proper administration of family disci-
pline; while others again have conjec-
tured that the women who first wore
their hair thus were cheered and en-
couraged in the fashion by the tongues,
and finally by the fists, of their asso-
ciates, and thus the term "banged, !"
first applied to the women themselves,
came to be appropriately used as indi-
eating their style of decoration.
Be this as it may, this much is GER
tain, that the bang is of African origin,
and was first used by the females of a
tribe on the Congo or some other
stream along which the gorilla
wandered; and there is a legend to the
effect that the ladies of this unknown
tribe adopted that style of wearing
their hair partly in the hope of over
awing their lords and mnsters by the
close resemblance to this formidable
animal thereby impaired to their coun.
tenances. Whether the bang was in
troduced into Europe by Gordon Cum
ming or David Livingstone, or whether
it spread from the west coast with the
ivory trade by slow degrees, is as yet
uncertain, and further historical light
is necessary to clear up this dark point.
1t is beyond all question, however, that
its course was rapid and its success
complete. 1t is a curious illustration
of the survival of fashion long dead to
civilization, but readily recognized as a
relic of old times and adopted as soon
as presented.
Various poets have presented the
doctrine of reminiscence with greater
or less degree of fogginess, but, as it is
understood from the teachings of the
most lucid, it consists in the Individual
recalling from a previous mode of ex-
istence certain ideas or impressions
which he, at the time. supposes to be
original with himself, but which, in
reality, are mere recollections. Even
SO the bang, which many have supposed
original with the present generation, is
merely reminiscence, q recollection
of an earlier condition of savagery
which was favored because civilization
momentarily believed in its originality
and adopted it as a companion to tht
kindred barbarism of boring the ears
for the purpose of inserting Jewels il
them, fashion which had endured
though boring the lips and nose, 1
fashion equally useful, had fallen intC
disuse. 998l. sa 1855
The bang is now departing from US
but few will regret its exit. Itfurnishe'
a curious instance of a fashion 0ncI
both useful and ornamental, adopted
under circumstances when no longe
either ornamental or useful, but sur
viving from force of habit, like the col
lar on mans coat which no longel
turns up to cover his ears, or the but
tons on his back, to which no longer i
ANYTHING fastened. In Africa the bang
was useful, for it answered the purposl
of forelock by which the wife coult
be properly held in default of bette
means. 1t was ornamental, for i
served to cover up portion of an Afri
can beauty's countenance, and th
more it covered the more ornamental
it became. In this country men do no
hold their wives by means of the bang
and the nature of the American femal
face is such that the more of it is un
covered the better it looks, wherea
| nine women out of ten who are pro
yided with bangs have q happy re
semblance to rabbits peeping out of
brush heap, The. only unfortunat
feature about the disappearance of th
bang is the dread of what is to com
after it. It is to go, that much is sci
tied; but whether the women are t
shave their heads or to wear wigs lik
those which surmounted the head c
Louis XIV. is question that must fl
the world with awe and the fashio
papers with matter for some time (
come.-St. Louis Globe Democrat.
Didn't Want to Die There