The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-15

mutilation without maiming. But It was mutilation all the same, and the mutilation repeated every morning py more than half of our adult male popu- lation is only less ridiculous than Ne ro's because we nc 1onger believe that thereby we please a superior being But besides the ceremonial or propitia- tory origin, shaving, as practised py Asiatic and European nations, may be traced to a secondary source. In the Aryan race 1t is closely connected With the mutilation of prisoners taken m war so as to lead to Identification if they at- tempted escape.
 Previous to the Christian era shaVlns was certainly praetised, but lnVarlaply it was done either as sanitary precau- tion-as when Joseph, when pelng suiii- moned from prison to interpret Fhar- aoh's dream, shaved himself ana changed his raiment" Genesis Xl.l4- or as a symbolical act of pHriteatlon, or as a token of humiliation. But Chrls- tianity brought with it, among other inprov an aversion to shedding human blood without at least plausl- ble excuse Slavery continued an m tegral part of the social system; ana so long as there were slaves there would be attempts to escape, and means must be had to insure their recognition Sitting noses and boring ears went out of vogue, and the milder mutilatlon or shaving was found to answer the pur- pose. It became the recognized 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 servants in livery may relish the connection, the rule that obliges foot men and grooms to shave is survival of the ancient custom 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 conform to strict regulations in the matter or shaving, the only bearded men in Brit ish batallions being, for some occult reason, the pioneers. But who shall ex- plain the mysterious edicts which regu- late the ebb and flow of hair over the British warriors visage. Our gallant infantry in the Peninsula and Waterloo campaigns fought witf lips and chins completely bare. Plutarch says | that Alexander the Great first abol- | ished boards in the Macedonian army, because they got pulled in battle; but | since the invention of artillery warfare | has been getting less and less like foot ball under Rugby rules William ". all lowed his foot soldiers a tidy little tuft under each ear. The infantry we lend | ed in the Crimea were privileged to twain their whiskers as low as line drawn between the lobe of the ear and the corner of the mouth. A more fiorid style was sanctioned in the cavalry, the only Englshman who, at that time, sported the moustache.
 When peace was declared, moustach- es were decreed essential In all the branches of the service but 1t was not | till after the next war that the sacred frontier between ear and mouth was relaxed. Regiments returning from the Indian mutlny campaign found that the | authorities had pronounced that all hair might be grown on the face, save a space measured by the breadth Of four fingers on the chin This was high water mark: 1t endured for twen' ty years. Then came the doom of whls- kers, and now nothing may be grown on the faces of soldiers of all ranks pioneers always excepted, but the nous. tache alone. Of course, fashionable young men, the bulk of whom, by chiv- alrous tradition, conform to the military type, have had to adopt themselves tc these changes; though a new school | the amateur dramatic, may be recog. nized by shaving everything. Pieea- dilly weepers, the glory of Leech'S young men. and the Newgate frill. arc as completely out of favor as the home
 ly mutton-chop pattern It will not es
 cape notice that amid all these military fluctuations has been preserved a hal lowed ground where no hair nigh
 sprout It is terrible to think wha calamities might overtake our arms il any future edict should direct the sol
 dier to leave his countenance as tho Creator designed it, Nevertheless, 1t i' reassuring to reflect that Britannia stil rules the waves, although sailors of tho
 Royal navy, who until a few years agC were made to shave both lips and chin are now at liberty to grow as much a! they please, without loss either in ap pearance or efficiency.-Good Words.