The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-02-13
THE ORIGIN OF SHAVING.
1t Was Once the Recognized Badge of
Slavery and Had Religious SiEnff-

canoe.
Certain of our practices, though purged
OF cruelty, are no whit more sensible than
the self-mutilation of savages, says GOOD
ords. When Nero, assuming the toga
vlrills, shaved off his young beard, put 1t
IN a gold Golfer, set with pearls, and OIL
tered 1t to Jupiter Capitolinus, he was per-
forming an act which was only more
credltable to his intelligence than chop
ping on a finger because it was mutlatlon
without manning But it was mutilatlOn
all the same and the ton repeated
every morning by more than half CT our
adult male population is only less ridicu-
lous than NerOs because we no longer be-
neVe that thereby we please a superior
being. But besides the ceremonial or pro-
pltlatory origin shaving as practiced by
Aslatc and European nations, may be
traced TO a secondary source. In the Aryan
race 1t is closely connected with the mu
tllation of prisoners taken in war, as
to lead to identification if they attempted
to escape.
PREVIOUS to the Christian era shaving
was certainly practiced, but invariably 1T
was done either a sanitary precaution-
as when Joseph, on being summoned from
prison to interpret Pharaoh's dream,
shaved himself and changed his raiment'
Genesis xii. 1D-or as a symbolical act of
publication, a token of humiliation.
But Christianity brought with it, among
other improvements, an aversion to she'd
ding human blood without at least plaus
ible excuse. Slavery continued an integral
part of the social system, and SO long as
there were slaves there would be attempts
to escape. and means must be had to in
sure their recognition. Sitting noses and
boring ears went out of vogue and the
m1lder mutiatton of shaving was found to
answer the purpose 1t became the recog-
| nized badge of servitude So it has come
| TO pass that we no longer even brand our
| convicts, but are satisfied with cropping
| their heads and shaving their faces.
strange as it may seem, and little as ser
| wants in livery may relish the connection
| the rule that obliges footmen and grooms
| to shave is a survival of the ancient Gus
tom of mutilating slaves. But they may
| soothe their wounded self-respect by the
| reflection that soldiers in every European
| army, servants of the monarch, must con-
| form to the strict regulations in the ma tier
| of shaving, the only bearded men in Brit
| ish battalions being, for some occult reason,
| the prisoners. But who shall explain the
| mysterious edicts which regulate the ebb
| and flow of hair over the British warrior s
| visage. Our gallant infantry in the PENN
| sula and Waterloo campaigns fought with
| lips and chin completely bare. Plutarch
| says that Alexander the Great first abol-
| shed boards in the Macedonian army, be
| cause they got pulled in battle; but since
| the invention of artillery warfare has been
| getting less and less like football under
| Rugby rules. William ~. allowed his foot
soldiers a tidy little tuft under each ear.
| The infantry we landed in the Crimea were
privileged to train their whiskers as low as
| a line drawn between the lobe of the ear
and the corner of the mouth A more
forid style was sanctioned in the cavalry,
the only Englishmen who, at that time,
| sported the mustache.
When peace was declared mustaches We're
decreed essential in all the branches of the
service, but it was not until after the next
| war that the sacred frontier between cal
and mouth was relaxed. Regiments re-
turning from the Indian mutiny campaign
found the authorities had gravely pro-
nounced that all hair might be grown on
the face save space measured by the
breadth of four fingers on the chin. This
was high water mark; it endured for
l.years Then came the doom of whiskers
and now nothing may be grown on the
faces of soldiers of all ranks, pioneers al
ways excepted, but the mustache alone. O1
course fashionable young men, the bulk Of
| whom by chivalric tradition, conform tC
the military type, have had to adapt them
selves to these changes, though a new
school, the amateur dramatic, may be rec
| ognized by shaving everything. Piccadilly
sweepers, the glory of Leechs young men
and the NeWgate frill, are as compl stely Oh
| of favor as the homely mutton-chop pat
| tern. 1t will not escape notice that annie
| all these military fluctuations has been pre-
served a hallowed ground where no hal
| might sprOut. 1t is terrible to think wha
| calamities might overtake our army If an.
future edict should direct the soldier t.
leave his countenance as the Creator de
signed it, Nevertheless, it is reassuring t.
reflect that Britannia still rules the waves
although sailors Of the royal navy, wh'
until a few years ago were made to shov
| both lips and chin, are now at liberty t.
| grow as much as they please, without los
either in appearance or efficiency.