Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1888-07-12
BEARD AND MUSTACHE.
1OOAY'S FACIAL ORNAMENTS ONCE
MUCH RlDlCULEO.

The beard and mustache as an appendage
to the face is of comparative recent date
in the United States. Thirty years ago 6
beard was an exception. and thirty five
years have scarcely elapsed since the
wearer of beard was either an object OF
ridicule or suspicion. When a boy the
writer listened to a sermon in which the
smooth faced preacher descanted on the
sin of the beard, and conclusivelv proved
| that Adam was not endowed with this
facial appendage until after his fall, and
| that it constituted the actual thicllet be-
hind which he sought to hide himself
from the sight of his maker.
1t is quite evident it was at least as
difficult for the ancients to keep down the
growth of the beard as it is for the modern
youth to raise one. Before the invention
of the razor. which dates back less than
two centuries. the hair was kept from ac-
cumulating on the face by rubbing the
skin quickly with pumice stone, which
gave it that peculiar polish and hardness
of outline noticeable in old paintings
BARRIERS are first mentioned in English
history about the year 1929, during the
reign of Charles |, when a number of
Puritans were ordered to be punished by
having their boards shaven from their
faces with sharp knives, and the hair to
be cropped close to their heads Herewith,
in addition to having their ears cut off
and tongues bored with red hot iron,
and to be thereafter stood in the pillory."
A SUBJECT OF RIDICULE.
About 1885 boards and mustaches began
to make their appearance in this country
a of ka c,t
everywhere the subject of ridicule, SO
much so that few were vain enough to
cultivate them. In 1888 the fad for wear
ing hair on the face was given great
thrust forward by picture of Count
D'Orsay, published in Frazer's Magazine,
illustrating how copiously chin could be
cushioned. and which, it was conceded,
reached the climax of hair arrangement in
that quarter
Still for number of years later long
boards were considered disgraceful; as
masks behind which criminals and out
laws sought to hide their identity. AS
late as 1913 the writer remembers to have
seen a Jew with long hair and beard
''bated' on Beaver street, in this city, by
a crowd of boys, who chased him with
sticks and stones through the streets and
attractive portions of New York, and for
no other reason than the great mass Of
hair which concealed his features And
on this occasion the sedate business men
of that part of tie city gathered at their
doors and cheered the boys with their ex.
pressions of approval.
One or two judges about that time be-
gan to make their appearance on the
tr,y, y,0h 81 4.
took as an offense, and the papers seri-
ously discussed it as a matter of prime
Importance. "Whiskers," says The
Democratic Review, ''are bad enough at
the bar. and even then they are pestilent
accompaniment for counsel There is no
gentlemanly managing jury with them.
Men are not open to reason or pathos that
might issue from any part of face thus
cultivated. They contiI ually, and for
good reason, suspect those who talk to
them in mask. But to carry whiskers
up to the tribunal is unbecoming the
judge as it is unfortunate for the wool
sack. What would men have us think?
Do they mean to enforce decisions by tho
ferooity of their countenances? To make
us fear instead of honor them? Or would
they, wherever they may be, have us
understand that their strength, like his
of old, lies in their hair2"
None of the fathers Of the republic ever
wore beard The appendage of hair is
not to be found on the face of any of the
signers of the Declaration of Independence,
and it, was unknown to all the officers Of
the revolutionary army. Those men of
great minds, iron will and strong purpose
stood forth in the broad light of day with
faces SO clean that their every thought
night be read.
THE CROPPED SIDE WHISPER.
The war of 1919 brought no generals to
he front with boards. but all the COM
handlers of the navy appear to have culti-
rated the mutton Leg" as it was once
;aIled-the side whisker reaching an inch
" so below the ear, but always kept
.ropped- This is the whiskers we find on
he pictures of Perry, Bainbridge, Deca-
ur. Lawrence and others, and is the
liant which was afterwards built out and,
n connection with the mustache, became
he Burnside" AL the principal officers
# tHb Mexican war were also beardless, |
Though the mustache and beard began |
bout that time creep into the army.
OF the presidents of the Uniteda States |
ohm Q. Adams and Zachary Taylor had
mere bunch of hair, extending the |
ength of the ear. Martin Van Buren,
ad more of the mutton leg," which
urled forward, and being of a sandy
olor, gave that peculiar expression to
is face which caused him to be nick
amed 1.-THE Red Fox of Kinderhook" or
Fosy" Van Buren,. ALI the other presi-
ents had faces shaven of every particle
f hair, and up to 1861 no man had oc-
upied a position of prominence in the
ational government who wore beard on
rs chin or a mustache. John C. Fre-
lont, the first candidate of the, Republi-
an party for the presidency, also culti-
ated his entire cheek and chin space for
air, and Abraham Lincoln, his successor
n the ticket four years later, and the first
epublican president, also wore a full
card.
The cabinet which Lincoln assembled
-as composed largely of bearded men.
he despised abolition sentiment had OBJ
ained the ascendency, and men by the
iousands who ten years before would
lther. have been caught burning house
ran raising beard, threw away their
azors and turned their faces out t6nature
,r coverings The officers in the field of
9th armies let the beard grow or cut it
shapes to suit their particular fancy or
ppearance until smooth faced man be-
lme almost as rare as hairy one had
cen few months previous.
Presidents Grant, Hayes and Garfield all
2peared in full boards, and we ell re-
ember the luxurious Burnsides of Chester
Arthur. the pre- -eminently gentlemanly
,cupant of the White House. Cleveland
the first president that ever was elected
acked by a mustache only.-New York
ress