Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-05-17
THE DEMOCRATIC NORTHWEST. TIL URSDAY, MAY L, 1883
Hair and Beard.

No one knows who frst introduced
among civilized men the tonsure of the
chin. The shaven polls and faces of
ecclesiastIcs date from the time of Pope
Anacletus. who introduced the custom
upon the same literal authority of
scripture that still causes women to
wear bonnets in our churches, that
they may not pray uncovered. The
shaving Of the beard by laymen was,
however, practice much more an
cient.
The Greeks taught shaving to the
Romans, and Pliny records that the
first Greek BARRIERS were taken from
Sicily to Rome by Publias Ticinius In
the four hundred and nifty fourth year
after the building of the city.
The Greeks, however-certainly 1t
was so with them in the time of Alex
ander-seem to have been more dispos-
ed to use their BARRIERS for the pruning
and trimming than for the absolute re-
Z moval of the beard, and of that orna-
ment of the upper lip which they
termed the "mystax," and which we
|, call-using the name that they gave to
it, slightly corrupted-moustache
In the best days of Greece few but the
, philosophers wore unpruned boards. A
large flowing beard were In those times
. as naturally and essentially a part OF
the business of o philosopher, as sign
board is part, in these days, OF the
| business of tradesman.
The idea that there existed q con-
nexion between mans vigor of mind
, and body, and vigor of growth in his
! beard, was confirmed by the fact that
! Socrates, the wisest of the Greek philo-
i sopher, earned pre- eminently the title
q of the Bearded.
q Among races of men capable of grow
!. ing rich crops on the chin, the beard
i has always been regarded more or less
q as type of power. Some races, as the
y Mongolians, do not get more than
2 twenty or thirty thick coarse hairs
y and are as likely to pluck them
out as to esteem them in an exaggerat'
n ed way, as has been sometimes the case
i in China.
In the worlds history the bearded
races have at all times been the mos
II important actors, and there is no par
y of the body which, on the whole, they
e have shown readiness to honor.
Among many nations, and through
many centuries, developement of bearC
(, has been thought indicative of the de
u vel0pement of strength, both bodily
y and mental. In strict accordance will
le that feeling, the strength of Samson
re was made to rest in his hair.
II The beard became naturally honored
in asmuch as it is characteristic
~ feature of the chief of the two sexes {
r ! speak as an ancient) of man, and o
v man only, in the best year of his life
when he is capable of putting forth hi
best energies.
Az years multiply and judgmen
ripens, the beard grows, and with
NJ, grows every mans title to respect. Gra,
~ boards became thus so closely connect
10 ed with the idea of nature discretion
~ that they were taken often as its sigl
ty or cause; and thus it was fabled of th
Il wise King Numa, that he was gray
a. haired even in his youth.
90 To revert to the subject of shaving
. Tacitus says that in his time the Gel
=" mans cut their boards. There are nov
IN such things to be seen in Europe as tn
al revolutionary beard, and not long ag
'is in small German State, a barrister wa
n. denied hearing because he stood upi
n his place in the law court, wearing
rs. beard of the revolutionary cut.
pd day law, regulates the cultivation {
he the hair on many of our faces. Ther
Of is scarcely an army in Europe which
To- not subject to some regulations ths
n affect the beard and whiskers. In Ens
od q land, the chin and-except in som
IF regiments-the upper lip has to b
shaved; elsewhere in Europe, the bear
;fl is to be cultivated and the whiskel
an shaven.
n n. Such matters may have their sign
of ficance. The most significant {
,er whiskers are, however those worn
ON the Jews in the East, and especially |
70 Africa, who, in accordance with
of traditional superstition, keep them s
No. an uniform level of about half an inc
~. in length, and cut them into cabalist
70 characters curiously scattered abo,
'at over the face.
,rt AS there are some communitit
he especially bestowing care and honor O
Ea- their beard, and others more devote
Nv to the whiskers, so there are nations, ,
. the Hungarian, in which the honor
60 the moustache is particularly cherisl
I'd ed. The moustaches of Gen. Hayna
ara were about half-a-yard long.
hv A Hungarian dragoon who aspired
rs eminence in that way, and had nurse
" pair of moustachios for two year
-. until they were only second to Ha,
US q nau's, fell asleep one day after dinn
nd with cigar in his mouth. He awol
with one of his fine nose tails so te
ribly burned at the roots, that he w
10 obliged afterwards to resort to an a
used by many of his companions, ar
to fortify the weak moustache by twi
be ing into its substance artificial hair.
al Ola Venetian magnate, one auth
'th relates, that if he did not lift it up.
nd would trip over it in walking. ST
raj worse was the beard of the carpent
to depicted in the Princes Court
ler Eidam; who, because it was nine fe
ost long, was obliged, when at work,
= sling it about him in bag.
1ot It has been calculated that ms
lil- mows off in the course of a year abo
are six-and half inches of beard, so that
the man eighty years of age would ha
eaf chopped up in the course of his life
re- twenty-seven foot beard.