St. Landry democrat., 1886-03-06

the hundred tons of human HAIR that are
bought and sold each year in European
marts, how many bundles of silky hair
lying among the coarser grades from
peasants heads breathe of a silent sacrl-
fee? For just as much as the hand and
ear does the hair betray good blood and
fine breeding
In the great port of M,arseilles one
has capital chance to test his acute
ness by examining the piles OF hair col
lected for expectation.
That bundle of FURNISHED golden
locks. breathing a faint odor OF violets,
YOU feel sure is from the head of some
young virgin but yesterday made ''the
bride of Christi for the Church. like
the guillotine, demands woman's hair
before she quits ''this world" Here is
a package OF shining chestnut curls,
with such look of life about them that
it is easy to imagine the dark blue eyes,
the pink and ijmpled face they once en-
wreathed-cut Oft, perhaps, to keep
roguish lover from prison. That iuAur-
ious mass of long, blueblack perfumed
hair. How came it here?' l asked
the swarthv foreman, burnt under the
Southern sun.
ut was cut Off the head of a young
wife, madam, whose husband left her
here ill-abandoncd. She wished it to
be sold 10 pay for her coffin, and she
knew that dealers do not like to buy
dead hair any more than they do feath-
ers plucked from a dead goose he
concluded in most matter-of-f2ct way.
Most pathetic of all was d package of
soft, lustrous, silyery-white hair-a
mothers sacrifice. no doubt-and which,
oh, grim Fate. will bring higher price
than even the heavy tlaNcn braids at
their side.
For the rest, for those pounds upon
pounds of brown and yellow and black
tresscs, one can look at them without
emotion, for, take the sleeps wool,
thew were grown only to be shorn and for
the sake of a few silver coins and gorge
Gus 'kerchicf that tempers the wind to
the peasant lambs of Auvcrgnc and
Brittany.
Two women, both celebrated in their
way, deliberately cut off their hair.
Charlotte Corday was one. She had no
trinkcts nor mcmentoes to distribute
among her friends, so she forestalled
the grim valet of the guillotine and cut
off her beautiful! hair herself. sending
locks of it to her family and nearest
friends.
OF that proud arrogant and ambitious
woman, Sarah, Duchess Of Marlbor
ough, we might say she cut off her hair
instead of nose to spite her face. 10 be
more explanatory, it seems that the
Duchess had very splendid hair, I'M
usual in length and abundance, and ex-
ceedingly fine. The great soldier, her
husband, who was very much in love
with her entertained for it 3 profound
admiration, and was wont to say he
loved every hair on her head. Indeed,
it was his delight to unbind her tresses
himself and let them fall in a luxurious
cloud about her stately person. Never
theless, the noble couple INDUCED at
times in very ignoble domestic battles,
in which the warrior was apt to get
| worsted; but on one occasion he did
core out victorious, which so chagrined
and enraged the Duchess that she de-
termined to do what she thought would
outrage her husbands feelings the
most-so going to her tiring-room she
LoOk q SHdl MILF anu slftoHcO Hci su"
perb hair off.
As the last locks fell to the floor the
Duke entered with jewelled peace
offering in his hand. At a glance he
took in the situation, and then, without
a word, he stopped down, gathered ap
one long tress from the Singing b cap
upon the ground, placed it in his bosom,
and, with the tears rolling down his
bronzed face, silently passed out. It is
said this was the last violent quarrel the
ducal pair ever had.
Then there was the Countess of Suf-
folk, who welded poverty and Mr..
| Howard One must admire her for her
| pluck, as well as her beauty. When it
became necessary for the couple to give
state banquet though their money-
chest was empty the Countess did not
hesitate tc sell her exquisitely fine and
fair hair. of which she had an abund-
ance. Twenty pounds Zone hundred
| dollars) was the sum she received for
it, and that, doubtless, provided right
| royal feast in those days of cheapness
and plenty.
An old copy of the Protestant Mer-
catry tells of Lancashire lass who
sacrificed her tresses for even more
notable object. She was in love with a
worthy youth, who hesitated to return
her affection, as she was poor and her
friends would not give her the portion
of fifty pounds that the mildly-smitten
Young man demanded. Therefore, the
courageous maid journeyed up to Lon
don and sold her hair, which was long
and of a tender yellow, to an honest
chapman in London, who paid her
sixty pounds (three hundred dol
lars) for it, and soon sold it in wig to
| his advantage,