Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-11-23
Is THE BEARD DOOMED.
A Swell Young Man Who Looks For
ward to . Regime of smooth Faces.

"Sru W = Regime OF smooth Faces.
why do not wear . moustache 2" .sid the
swell young man, repeating TIE sr.n re-
porsers question. Partly because am not able
TO raise one worth cultivatins. and neasly
one Is scarcely an adornment You remember
the old story. suppose, about the youth who
complained 10 the barber that the hair would
not grow upon his upper lip"
Il aont understand it." be said my father
mas q remarkably heavy moustache."
perhaps Get may be-" replied the barter
consoiingiy, stropping his razor. '.zat monsieur
takes after madam. hees mamma"
81 must have been so with myself. But even
II were able to grow q moustaehe-shough
doubtless you will esteem II a case of sour
grapes-I don't think l should do So"
WHY IT MUST 90.
Sand why not?" asked The STAR reporter.
''SImply because every man wears a mons
tache nowadays. You can't find a bar tender.
a car conductor a shop clerk that doesn't
have one, IN nearly every case W thout other
beard The style Of wearing the moustache
alone, with the rest Of the face clean shaved,
seems TO be almost universal in this country az
present. But you must have noticed that
whenever a fashion has once become vulgarly
popular gentlepeople drop it. For reason Of
no ordinary sort the moustache has held Its own
"
already exhibiting symptoms OF going out, and
L predict that before many years IL will no
longer be considered the thing 20 wear IL.
Look around you and you will many more
men with their upper lips shaved than we're to be
found short time ago. The reason wherefore
the moustache has held long is simply
that It Is such an astonishingly decorative
ornament 1t IL not too much TO say, think,
that the average man who is considered hand
some would not be thought so at all II be were
he Haxa
seen good-looklng friend after he had sacri-
need the adornment and were YOU not shocked
at the alteration in his appearance? II SO. 10
was not the change merely that was painful,
but chiefly the absolute loss OF beauty 10
entailed. Why is il that ugly boys so often
grow up to be comely men? In most cases
because the acquisition Of moustaches has
improved their looks"
MEMS MOUTHS NOT PRETTY
THAT would seem hardly enough to account
for it."
1T goes q long way. For you will observe
that the ugly feature in the male Of the human
species is the mouth. Most men have fairly
good faces otherwise. but their mouths are in
nearly every case bad. Although in ninety
nine instances out of hundred their noses are
twisted perceptbly TO the right-as you may
notice any day by walking half-a-dozen blocks
on + street-probably owing TO the habit OF
wiping the organ with the right hand, and not
outstanding the fact that their ears are almost
invariably misshapen, they would do pretty
well II II were not for their mouths. But the
masculine mouth is very rarely well shaped: il
Is usually too large, and the upper lip is apt TO
be too thick. The moustache covers il suff.
GENTLY to disguise it's uginess, and therefore il
Is that the appendage is justly considered SO
becoming; it is also ornamental / think in
itself. But 1t will surely 60 out Of fashion be-
fore long,"
ORIGIN OF THE MusrAcHE.
"Do Won know how the custom of wearing
the mustache without other beard originated?'
Il have heard that the ancient Germans,
Franks, Cloths and Britons, in the time when
Cesar conquered them. shaved their chins and
cheeks and wore moustaches. The Saxons
wore long boards. but shaving became fashion
able In Englan after the conquest 5y the Nor
mans, who regarded il a sign of misery and
distress TO permit hair 10 grow upon their
faces. Fifty years ago. you know, no gentle
man IN England or In this country would have
thought Of wearing any beard at all The
moustache first came in. have understood as
strictly military ornament aud the wearing OF
1t was considered such an exclusive privilege in
those days that a civilians face was sometimes
slapped by an army officer for infringing the
right of adopting the decoration. But II was
not long before all classes of men took il up
and il served as an introduction for whiskers
and beard. When the moustache goes out
again il will carry full beard and whiskers with
1t, so that clean shaving, originally introduced
In ancient Rome by Sclpio Africanus. will come
into fashion again. A good thing it will be,
too"
ADVANTAGES OF THE BEARD.
''You don't approve of whiskers and boards
| either, them"
why should /? The notion of mans
growing a luxurisnt vegetable all over his face
Is not IN itself a particularly agreeable one. A
full beard is very rarely becoming or an i'm
provement TO the beauty OF the person who
wears it. l have seen half dozen
men in my lite, perhaps, who were
made superb by wealth of beard
In nearly every case, however, it sug-
gests to me the notion that the owner of the
beard merely wears it through slovenly lazi-
ness, because he will not take the trouble to
shave. Doubtless, boards prevent colds, and
have been told that musicians who toot wind
instruments hnd their lip muscles strengthened
by hairy growth; but, for my own part, 1 am
willing 10 sacrifice these advantages for the
sake OF looking clean. 1t is asserted that
nature provides man with the beard for a
throat protector. May be that is true, though
the fact is worth mentioning that only part OF
the human species is so equipped. The Chinese,
Japanese, Malays, Siamese, New Zealanders
and North American Indians are ali beardless.
Negroes have very little beard and no whis.
kers"