The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-19


beard was handle for the enemy to
grasp. and he compelled all his war
| riors to shave. This is the earliest men,
ton of fashion in boards. and held sway
| until the time of Justinian. when long
| boards again came into vogue.
About the year 200 b. c. the Romans
commenced shaving, Scipio Africanus
being the first Roman emperor to inau-
/ gurate the custom. From that time the
| Romans wore smooth faces until Ha-
drian mounted the imperial throne. He
wore a beard to hide an ugly scar. and
the Romans followed his example.
In all times sages and philosophers
have worn boards, deeming them a
\ mark of dignity. and, so far as known,
/ all ancient Germans wore boards until
they killed their first man in battle,
/ and from the time of Julius Caesar the
| Britons cultivated mustaches. Until
| Christianity the Anglo-Saxons cultivat-
ed boards without distinction of class,
/ but the clergy were by law compelled
| to shave.
English mobiles wore mustaches until
| William the Conqueror took possession
of Britain, and were very indignant be-
cause he compelled them to shave, in
accordance with the Norman custom.
The practice and principle of the
Christian fathers, like the Jewish rab-
bis, denounced shaving as a violation of
Gods law, made the wearing of boards
the distinguishing fashion of kings, no
bles and dignitaries in the early me-
diaval centuries. and royal personages
frequently had gold thread woven into
their boards, or wore goldened and jew
eled pendants. Even the priests wore
boards, and 1t was not until the separa-
ton of the Greek and Latin churches
in the eighth century that there came
a change. At that time popes, emper-
ors, kings. mobiles and priests, except
Leo XIII. inaugurated shaving to dis
tinguish himself from the patriots of
Constantinople. The Greek priests still
wear Boards Thirty years after Leo,
Pope Gregory ". enjoined penalty on
every priest wearing a beard, and Code
froi. the celebrated bishop of Amiens.
refused to accept offerings from any
bearded person.
Henry /. of England wore a beard,
but an unterrified preacher leveled his
eloquence at him to such a good pur-
pose that he submitted to be shaved,
and the confessor of Francis VII. of
France refused him absolution until he
removed his beard.
In the thirteenth century Pope Hon.
orius Ill, in order to conceal a disfig-
ured lip wore a beard, and inaugurated
anew the custom among churchmen.
The fashion was prevalent in Europe
until the time of Francis l., when the
right of the clergy to wear boards was
disputed, and Francis imposed a heavy
tax on every bearded bishop. In 1851
the college of Sorbonne took up the
matter and after long elaboration 1t
was decided that the beard was con-
trary to sacerdotal modesty.
During the reign of Henry w. of
England boards again became the fash
ion, and were worn in a variety Of
styles distinguished as square, pointed,
Chanpd a1rpnla How
tailed and artichoke leaf boards. In
the reign of Elizabeth, the virgin queen,
boards were trimmed according to the
class of the wearer.
Under the Stauarts the gallants and
courters wore luxuriantly cultivated
mustaches, and ii was not until the
time of Louis XII, that the fashion of
wearing boards declined in France. 1t
was revived in that country during the
reign of Louis XIV, and great care was
taken of the beard. 1t was customary
when the gallant of those days went to
pass an evening with his mistress to
provide himself with wax, sweet scent
ed oils and other unguents, which the
fair dame used in combing and dressing
his beard. If such a custom was pre-
valent to-day doubtless boards would
be more generally worn
In the interest of civilization and
cleanliness, Peter the Great of Russia
laid tax on boards, and delinquents
were forced to have their faces shaved
with a blunt razor, or have their hairs
pulled out with pinchers. Thus shaving
became general until recently. France
was the first, and England the last of
the European nations to return to
boards. But to return to the BARRIERS.
In these prosaic days, when every
man wears his beard to suit himself,
regardless of the edicts of prince or
.Naf EA har lnr fc aAf he fvrar
tant person he once was. Two or three
centuries ago, and even later, he was
surgeon as well as barber, and very
commonly dentist, also, so far as the
drawing of teeth was concerned. 1t was
not until the reign of George H., about
1857. that the barber ceased to be other
than a barber as we now understand
the term. The barber in early ages was
a very important person. He operated
a kind of Pooh-Bah business He shaw
ed you, extracted your aching teeth
without the aid of gas or vitalized air.
leeched you. bled you, and, in fact, per-
formed all of the ordinary duties of the
surgeon. 1t was from this surgical
business that originated the red, blue
and white striped pole that even to-
day adorns the front of every barber
shop, and was emblematical of the pro-
cess of blood-letting. which practice
was so common for almost every dis
ease up 10 naH q century ago.
The patients arm, usually the left,
was barred, he was given a short stick
to grasp, and the arm was then tightly
wrapped with a narrow bandage to the
elbow. This was done in order to get
all the blood above the point where the
lancet was to be inserted. The red
stripe on the pole is symbolical of the
blood, the blue stripe of the veins and
the white of the arm.
The brass sometimes suspended in
front of the barber shops. quite COM
mon in Europe, though rarely seen i'm
this country. was anclently one of the
utensils of the barber. 1t resembles a
tin pie plate, with semicircular gap
in one side to encompass the throat.
and so prevent the lather from soiling
the clothes. This was necessary in an
cient days, because the patient being
shaved was compelled to sit upright.