The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-02-17
oouUmRUs,s BEARD.

COLUMBUs's BEARD.
An interesting inquiry has been started
by the new Columbian postage stamps.
1t is pointed out that on the one-cent
stamp, which represents columbus in
Sight of Land" the admiral stands on
the deck with clearly shaven face. On
the two-cent stamp, showing the Land
| ing of Columbus" which must have oc-
CURED less then twelve hours later, he
appears with full beard of good length.
1t is such things as this that should make
us all devoutly thankful that we are not
as the beasts, wanting discourse of rea-
son, but that we are endowed with the
power to take up such apparent discTep-
ancies, examine them carefully and ar
rive at conclusion BETTING so noble a
thing as man.
There are obviously two general ex-
| plantations of this extraordinary differ
ence in the appearance of Columbus on
the two closely connected occasions;
first he grew aluxuriant beard in twelve
hours; second, he put on false whiskers.
At first sight neither seems probable,
but let us not be too hasty-nothingi is SO
dangerous as haste in historical inquir-
les; conclusions must never be ju nped
at: rather they must be crept up on with
extreme caution, and secured in the
gentlest possible manner. Your logical
conclusion is shy bird, not to be cap.
tured by rushing up to his nest with a
brass band and wildly dashing salt on his
tail.
Let US examine the proposition that
Columbus put on false whiskers before
he landed. That he could have done so
simply ''for fun is, we fancy, out of the
question; the great navigator was not a
humorist, nor was the discovery of new
world the time for practical jokes. Was
false beard part of the uniform of a
Spanish admiral in 1892? History does
not seem to mention 1T. On the whole,
we are inclined to reject the theory that
the beard was artificial, though we do
not presume to think that we have said
the last word in its favor, by any means.
But let us examine the notion of rapid
hirsute growth. To the young man who
has devoted year to the perfecting OF a
timid mustache this seems absurd. Prob
ably the idea that the beard was plo-
duced wholly by unassisted nature is
rather improbable. But we see adver-
tised in many of our priced exchanges
preparations for producing growth of
hair both on the face and on the head,
WHICH, SCGlu W Ut vi
CIV. We are shown "before using" and
''after using" portraits which far exceed
in contrast the two engravings of Colum-
bus on the stamps; for the navigator,
even in the first, has an ample head of
hair, but in the "befOre using picture
the gentleman is often quite bald, as well
as smooth of face. Bat, of course, the
question of time cannot be ignored. We
In 4, ;,,1y tbat fba oil nf tha M H-
ern beard producers claim to work their
wonderful transformation in twelve
hours. As near as we can gather, ten
weeks seems to be about the established
term for bringing about the great change.
But it would be extremely hard to prove
that some marvellous compound was not
known in 1902 which would do it in ten
hours. To the bald headed man who has
poured down new remedy upon his de-
voted scalp each month for the last
twenty years, one will seem quite as
probable as the other. 1t is unfortunate
for us historians that the files of the
Spanish newspapers for the latter part of
the 18th century are not accessible. No
doubt we should find before and after
taking pictures which would fully vindi-
cate Columbus in his apparent eccentric
ity of growing beard over night. In
deed, IL would not surprise us II Column
bus himself was pictured in the adver-
Using columns of the contemporary
press, together with long interview I'M
der the head of Colon Speaks out.-Tells
What the Isabella Hair Producer Did for
Him.-Truth Stranger Than Fiction
He Orders Twelve Dozen Bottles for the
Hairless Natives.
That this question will provoke much
discussion seems inevitable, but we sim
cerely hope that no bitterness will be
shown. 1t is unfortunate that Columbus
should have acted as he did about his
beard and left no explanation, but since
it appears that he did so we must make
the best of it. We trust that we have
shown the proper spirit in our hurried
and necessarily inadequate examination
of the subject, and that other investiga-
tors who may follow in our footsteps
may do so in the same calm, dispassion-
ate and impartial mood.-N. Y. Tribune.