Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-24

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Woman has 10 greater adornment, no
head of hair. The fair tresses of fair
women have been sung by the bards, i'm
mortalized alike in poetry and prose, and
portrayed by the painter s brush and the
sculptor's chisel, since the pen became a
vehicle of thought, and art reproduce
ton of the real.
Research in the history of hair shows
that with few exceptions the women of
all ages and countries have been proud of
the length and texture of their hair, and
have taken great pains in its cultivation
and arrangement. Princesses and ladies
Of rank of all periods and nations seem
TO have had more abundant hair than
those of the lower classes and ALWAYS to
have displayed it in conspicuous Golf
fures
The Egyptians, the oldest nation of
whom authentic details have been gath
cred, were extremely careful in the ar
rangement of their hair, liberal in its
adjournment, and when necessary did not
hesitate to make use of the locks of 9TH
ers, or don wig. 1t may be interesting
to American ladies to here state that at
one period the Egyptian belle wore the
front hair cut short across the forehead
after the fashion of the straight bang so
much in vogue with us not very long ago.
Long hair was greatly valued by the
Britons and AnglO-Saxons; the latter
were renowned for their beautiful hair,
and France was anciently called "Gallia
Cromata, - or Long-haired Gaul, for the
same reason. The graceful bridal veil
of the present is said to have originated
from the custom of Anglo-Saxon maid
ems having worn their long hair flowing
its full length during the marriage cere-
meny, and the festivities which fol-
lowed
The ancient Greek and Roman ladies
wore their hair in graceful modes that
accorded well with their distinct and
classic features.
The Persians have luXuriant and
beautifully glossy black hair which the
women wear falling behind the neck and
on the shoulders The young Swedish
Lapland ladies arrange their tresses in
single plaits, which are brought towards
the front of the head Many OF the
Hindoo ladies wear two long plaIts, and
for ornament, fine gold chain clasped
round the forehead, with a jeweled
pendant on the forehead.
About thirty-five years ago, school
girls in this country wore similar plaits,
tied at the ends with bows of ribbon,
which the naughty little boys-the gamin
of those days-delighted to pull with
sharp jerk, coming slyly behind them for
that andaeious purpose.
BY this cursoTy glance at the head gear
of other days, and other lands ;, it will be
seen that former hair dressing is not q
tradition, but has always been esteemed
and practiced. Upon continental hair
dressing, a weighty and interesting vol-
ume might be written, so numerous and
curious were the fashions which have
lived and died since the fourteenth GEN.
fury. A few Of the old French and En-
glish styles were graceful and quantity
pretty, but most of them were hideous
AT one period during the seventeenth
century, so entirely did the grande DANES
become the slaves of marvellous fashions
in head dress, that in order to outvie
one another in the intricacy of their
coiffures, they would undergo any amount
of Inconvenience and suffering Tier
after tier of ornamentation was piled on
their devoted heads, until the structures
rose to such a heighth, that ordinary
doors had to be enlarged and coaches
rebuilt, to permit their passage without
serious damage and discomfort. These
may be termed the curiosities of hair
dressing long laid low, never to be res
surrected, but on the other hand there
has been many head-dresses, that while
less weighty, were none the less queer
and unbecoming, worn by American
ladies within the memory Of those living
to-day. Among them may be numbered,
the melancholy looking bands of hair
brought straight down on each side of
the face and twisted round the ear or
fastened to the back, and surmounted by
an equally sad looking band Of velvet
ribbon to keep it in place; the solitary,
lonesome seeming curl dangling over
either cheek, and the pulled out hair at
the sides, held in place by a sort of
dc uble-barreled comb, which came in
pairs and were known as puff-combs -
Later, particularly during the reign of
the Empress Eugene, many elegant and
becoming coiffures were introduced, but
since the downfall OF that beautiful and
gentle lady, hair-dressing gradually de-
Perforated until scarcely suggestion of
couture, worthy of the name remain
ed. Many ladies seeming not TO know
had it clipped, boy fashion, close to the
head, and others who hesitated to part
with their tresses, bound them up in
compact knots at the back, style,
which in fact was no style, and in partic-
ularly bad taste when worn with the ele-
CANT toilets required for all full dress
occasions.
This absence Of eoiffure was never ap-
proved by ladies of acknowledged taste
and judgment, and the innovation which
has recently occurred in hair-dresslng,
by the introduction of new and beautiful
styles, designed to improve the appear
ance and judiciously display the hair, has
been received, not only by the leaders of
fashion, but by ladies generally, with the
highest favor. Hair-dressers are be-
sieged with questions from their fair Gus
toners as to the new modes, and their |