St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-08-23
The Departing Bang.

When, in the course of human events
it becomes necessary for the ladies to
shake off the shackles which bind them
10 one form of adornment, and to attach
themselves by equally strong bonds to
another no less absurd, decent respect
for the opinions OF mankind compels the
impartial chronicler of the world 5 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-
inps patient women have endured ere
thev 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 a measure of convenience in
order to secure better hold for the
| Aroper 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 changed" l."
first applied to the women themselves,
came to be appropriately used as indi-
eating their style of decoration.
Be this rs it may, this much is GER
tain. that the bang is of African origin,
and was first used by the females OF
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 i'm 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 IS 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 n curious illustration
of the survival of fashion long dead 10
civilization. but readily recognized as .
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 1t is
understood from the teachings of the
most lucid. it consists in the individual
recalling from previous mode of cN-
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 "Reminiscences, recollection
of an earlier condition of savagery,
which was favored because civilization
momentarily believed in its originality
and adopted it as companion to the
kindred barbarism of boring the ears
for the purpose of inserting jewels in
them, a fashion which had endured,
though boring the lips and nose.
fashion equally useful, had fallen into
disuse.
The bang is now departing from us,
but few will regret its exit. ltfurnishes
\ curious instance of fashion once
both useful and ornamental, adopted
under circumstances when no longer
either ornamental or useful, but sur
viving from force of habit, like the col
lar on mans coat which no longer
turns up to cover his ears, or the but
tons on his back, to which no longer Is
ANYTHING fastened. In Africa the bang
was useful, for it answered the purpose
of forelock by which the wife could
be properly held in default Of better
means. 1t was ornamental. for il
served to cover up portion OF an Afri'
can beauty's countenance. and the
more it covered the more ornamental
it became In this country men do moi
hold their wives by means Of the bang,
and the nature of the American female
face is such that the more of it Is un'
covered the better it looks, wherea:
nine women out of ten who are pro
sided with bangs have a happy re
semblance to rabbits peeping out of {
brush heap. The only unfortunate
, feature about the disappearance OF thu
bang is the dread of what is to come
after it. 1t is to go, that much is set
tied; but whether the women are t.
shave their heads or to wear wigs lik'
, those which surmounted the head o
, Louis XIV. is a question that must fill
the world with awe and the fashion
, papers with matter for some time u
come.-S. Louis Globe Democrat.