The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1904-01-20
WIGS OF BARRlsTERs.
Man Who Makes Them an Important

Pillar of the Law.
In the procession of judges and bar
risters with which the law courts ha'
reopened the wig-maker plays a con
spicuous part. Tolstoi has said tina
in some plays the makeup Is rs great
an artist as the actor; it may he tina
the wig-maker is as important Il pillar
of the law as the lord chancellor him
self, says the London News.
Wigs, like many other human insti
%tutions, are not what they were. The
old wig had to be made Of human hair
of a dark color, and was pomatumed
and powdered every morning. An
army of dressers went down to West,
minister, and there attended each to
his circle of clients, with whom he had
an annual contract. 1t was not a par,
ticularly enjoyable occupation, but ii
meant a steady income, which was
completely cut Off by the introduction
of the horse-hair wig. We have Won
dered how the human hair was pro
cured, and from all we have learned
are still at liberty to imagine that it
came from the heads of felons the adj
vocacy of other barristers had brought
to the scaffold.
To-day DIR. Tristram, chancellor OF
the bishop Of London's Conslstory
Court. is the only considerable lumi-
nary who wears the old style of wig,
though until very lately he vas kept
in c~ountenance by Mr.. ~lnderwick, X.
C. The wigs that are worn now are
made of white horse hair, with a faint
admiXture of black. They do not re-
Quire to he powdered, and only one in
half a dozen years or so need they he
recurled. Some half-dOzen wig-makers
in and around the Temple and Lin
coins Inn-many Of them related by
marriage, and all of long standing
gown and wig lawyers between them.
1t seems that there is an opening for
a competitor, The price of Il plain
barrister'S wig is e. IS, but it some
times takes two or three weeks to
liiNN iut uCtu vi VII tiSS 10
very carefully measured, and the lines
of his Uranium marked upon the most
suitable of a hundred blocks or more
that the shop contains. The proper
surface is then covered with a trellis
of thin silk ribbon, carefully sewn to-.
gether at every point Of intersection.
On this trellis work the wig is care
fully built, so that at last it fits almost
as closely as the owners scalp itself.
Other industrious fingers have prepar-
ed long strings of hair woven upon
silk cord-for the crown of the head
little loops, and for the back some
thing more like cropped hair, and tech
nically called SNAP" Hundreds OF
yards of the two kinds are sewn on to
the foundation. till all is Closely COW
cred. and then the various curls, each
very nicely made, are added. Those
two little curls that bangle down the
back CSir Edward CarsOn'S wig lacks
one of them are each made of two
sets of hair, plated like fingers in
prayer at the bend. and thence curved
together, and so deity knotted that
not a hair is buckled from its place.
1t is a long time before the average
barrister comes back for a new wig.
Even the mar who does not care to
wear a silk hat that has lost its pris-
tine gloss appears cheerfully in a wig
twenty years old. In fact, an old wig
is often a desideratum, as it invests
the head OF its wearer with an appear
anc of having a large practice-an
appearance that is sometimes con-
trary to the fact. One of the largest
OF heads belonging to the legal pro-
fession Is that of Lord Alverstne.