The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-11-02

OUR BEARDLESS MEN ARE THE
SUBJECT OF ENGLIsHeTALK.
Visitors From Across the Pond Sur
prised to See So Little Foliage
on Our Faces.

Visitors From Across the Pond Sur
prised to See So Little Foliage
on Our Faces.
Still another Englishman has come
over and seen us, and has written
us up in the papers. He is James
Milne, the author. One of the most
interesting things he noted in the
United States was the remarkable
number of clean-shaven men. He
was puzzled for time to account for
the scarcity of mustaches and boards.
Why he (the American) should
nearly always shave bare" writes
Mr.. Milne, is not apparent, because
there are faces which gain in good
looks and character by the presence
of beard or mustache." He talked
to several Americans about it. "You
feel cleaner" was the explanation
that one of them gave him; and
that explanation probably goes
long way.
This country is unquestionablyt the
paradise of the barber and the raz-
ormaker. Some of our choicest and
AAS0N0k PAASON 1lluolA dLSu
in the backs of the magazines, tells
of razors and shaving soaps and the
delightful freshness that is impaired
by smooth and even scrape. Fifty
years ago boards were about as com
mon in this country as they are un-
common now, outside of Kansas, Just
why and when the anti-hirsute cru
SADIE began cannot be told. It
wasn't because of any tax on boards.
though such taxes have been known
in Europe; nor do we believe that
the hygienic consideration has any
thing to do with it. Microbe-chas-
ers, who want to treat everything
with fOrmaldehyde before using, tell
us that boards and mustaches are
germ incubatOrs and germ carriers
and distributors. They would have
every physicians face as smooth as
as plate glass. Indeed, if they could
have their way, every male person
would be prohibited from wearing
boards in any form.
But, if capillary facial adornments
are unhygienic, why stop at the
cheeks, chin and lips? Why not go
on and eliminate the eyebrows? No
less an artistic authority than Leon
ardo di Vinci has shown us conclu-
siVely, in his paintings, that the femi-
nine face may be beautiful without
eyebrows, which he is said to have
regarded as relics of an age of bar
barism. And, if a polished face is
a good thing, why wouldn't a polish
ed scalp in addition thereto be still
better? Moreover, sauce for the
gander should be sauce for the goose
also. Imagine that rule applied to
men and women alike, what a droll
sight it would be! But we'd prob
ably get used to it in time, Just as
we have gotten used to the rats"
and putfs and birdsnests that the
ladies use to build upon with their
natural hair.
Men shave clean because they
want to- No doubt the majority of
them do it because it makes them
feel cleaner, as the American told
Mr.. Milne. But there is no set rule.
What we call fashion permits a man
to follow his own within with re-
spect to his beard. His is thus able
to express individuality in his trim
ings. Not few men, it is to be
admitted, actually need to wear
boards and mustaches by way of
concealing receding chins and unat-
tractlVe mouths. And it's rather a
pity that more men and some wom-
en- do not cultivate foliage on their
faces.