The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-01-10
ABOUT WIGS.
Not SO Much Worn Now AS In the
Long Aao-How One Man Cut His
Hair.
Isl. James's Gszatte.l


Although wigs are still advertised in
the newspapers, they play much less
important part than in the days when
George ~ was king. During the reign
Of that monarch an arbiter Of fashion Is
said to have declared that "no gentleman
wore his own hair after the age Of Eve
and-twenty." Now no gentleman at any
age, or however bald, seems to wear a
wig. 1t used to be said on behalf Of wigs
that they saved the wearer from colds.
catarrhs and ophthalmic affections; and
though they were also worn from mot.
ives Of vanity, it is true that people, or
at least old people, made no secret Of
wearing them. Stories, too, are told of
men in the prime of life who wore differ
ent wigs on different occasions-Hght
airy wigs in summer, and heavy massive
wigs in winter. Here there can, obvi-
ously, have been no thought Of deception.
AS much cannot be said Of gentle
man OF our own time, well known In
London, who has a number OF wigs, all
OF precisely the same shade Of color and
Of the same general makes, but with
varying lengths Of hair. He replaces
week by week a wig with short hair by
a wig with hair Of longer growth, un-
til, after the lapse Of seven or eight
weeks, he finds it necessary to make pre-
tense Of having his hair cut. He leaves
his club for half an hour, observing
casually that he must visit the hair
dresser's, and, after going home and re-
placing his wig by shorter haired one,
returns as IL fresh from the hands of the
shearer.
According to some anthropologists, we
are fast approaching a time when civil
lied man will be bald. 1t is, however,
difficult to say whether or not the num-
Der Of bald persons is on the increase.
Fifty years ago it was nearly impossible
to make observations on the subject,
since all who were bald wore wigs, while
it was sometimes difficult to distinguish
the wig from natural hair. 1t is certain,
however, that savages and semi-barbar-
GUS tribes have plenty of hair.
The Russian peasant keeps his hair at
least until an advanced period Of his life;
and in India it is rare to see either bald
Mohammedan or bald Hindoo. "You
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the other day, one of our Indian visitors
But we possess two things Of which
good many among you are unable to
boast. We have hair and we have
teeth" In simpler states Of civilization
than ours men do not lose their hair, but
their hair loses its color. Gray hair must
surely, however, be better than no hair
at all.
Whatever it may be in a man, bald
ness in a woman would be something too
horrible; and probably bald woman, in
an evident condition Of badness, has
never been met with. Among the bald
men, heroes, like Julius Cesar; poets,
like Aschylus; statesmen and patronsof
art, like Pericles; brilliant men of fashion
with taste If not genius for every
thing, like Alcibiades; sages, like Socrates
may be mentioned. A bald woman, how
ever, is phenomenon which, though its
existence may be more than suspected.
has never hitherto been seen. Women
wear wigs, and, according to NJ. Theirs,
may claim to have invented them; and,
after her first youth, there is scarcely
one woman who does not wear false
tresses of some kind