The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-09-14
whiskers and Character.

ASlOnisnlnB what NagafleS some OF
the best y regulated minds indulge in
these warm days! Talk of ''bearding a
lion in his den" Ia la Daniel why, it is
nothing but the subject of whiskers, for
they certainly must be about the warm
est things out these days. Yet DiOg-
enes would never consent to be shaved,
avowing 'twould be no more than in
sinuating that nature had done better
TO make you a woman than a man.
There's one thing, though, Mr.. Man
should remember, and that is to make
decision and stick to it. lfhe de-
cides on whiskers, well and good; let
him stick to them. Furthermore let
him stick to one sort and not go skip
ping from Vandykes to muttOnchOps,
from fringes to Peffers. Such tickle
ness is most annoying. You uncon-
sciously cut your best friends just be-
cause they persist in such hirsute light
ming changes. Indeed, it's a wise
mother who would know her own son
in many instances. It's the same with
the ''mustache movement" We've
nothing against this military arrange
ment in itself, but we do object to a
man having it off and on about as
quickly as the stage villain himself
could manage to stick on his false lip
protectors. Speaking of the stage and
its inhabitants, if We hadn't pro-
gramme we could tell the parts the
men were playing by their hair, or lack
of it, just AS we can the standing of the
women performers.
You'll only have to think a second to
remember that virtue and blonde hair
are anonymous behind the foOtlights,
no matter how skeptieal you may be
on this combination otherwheres. It's
always a case Of "her golden hair was
hanging down her back" with the
sweet young heroine. Who'd believe
in sOubrette with long hair? No
body, any more than they would in the
stage spinster who should appear minus
eorkscrew eurls. Without the eurls
little children would turn from her,
and their elders would feel sure she'd
a past at least. Tae stage mothers
eoiffure must be rs simple as the Ma
donna's, while that of the viIlainess is
invariably as black and complex as her
very heart.
Well touch on stage masculinity
lightly. The young lover with honest
intentions has a smooth face, though as
he advances in years, having perhaps
been parted from his sweetheart by
some yillainy, he often takes on a
nustache. The villain would be as
innOcuous without that nOnchalant
Inustache as he would without his
cigarette. As for the funny man, we
know what sort he is by one glance at
those expressive sppendages. For real
aristocratic whiskers, though, COM
mend Us to the stage father.
To come to the point, now. why
shouldn't mankind choose his whiskers
with as much care as they who strut
the mimic stage? He should think
long and well, and once the decision is
made and he has adopted whichever
style best expresses his personality, let
him try to live up to it. You may
smile at the idea of living up to ones
whiskers, but it's no laughing matter.
Ifyou're uneonvinced, just grow a pair
of the aristOcratic stage-father sort and
try to be worthy of them. OF truth,
It's no small matter to achieve whisk-
ers, or even to have them thrust upon
one.
A masculine authority says that
large full beard most becomes broad
face, while long face is improved by
sharp-pointed one, and that mustaehes
"should be kept within bounds" BY
all means, well surely all agree. The
breezes mustn't be tempted too much.
And now let US attack the smooth
shaven face, for which so many ex-
cuses have been urged. Alexander the
Great introduced shaving TO prevent
his soldiers being caught by the beard
by the enemy; the Buddhist priests
had become ashamed of their locks
century before. The custom Of shaved
clerical faces is ROmanist. Peter the
Great proved that barber and barbar-
ism are derived from the same root 10y
laying tax on all capillary ornaments.
When Napoleon shaved the growth
which it disgraees the Mussulman to
be without, he said: "a born king has
another to shave him. A made king
can use his own razor" The man who
shaves himself should have seven razors
one for every day in the week, remem-
bering that good razor needs strOp
no more than good wine needs bush.
Only, Afr. Man. please remember to
make your choice, and then be as true
to it as you are to the wife Of your
BOSOM