Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-12-31
THE DISCARDED QUEUE.
China's Change of Couture and It's
Moral.
From the London Standard.

From the London Standard
The 'Son Of Heaven" has just nuthoriz.
ed Cinnamon to discard the queue. OF
'pigtail." as We too discourteously term
this appendage of the hair. and no doubt
the profession of barber has become sud-
denly quite lucrative throughout the ces
lestial empire. We are all ''roundheads"
now, it may be said, and although one
must welcome the disappearance OF any
badge Of servitude, it seems regrettable
to sentiment that a kind Of 'headdress"
SO nationally significant should disappear
abruptly. That blunt neat knob Of hair
turned back on the neck. by which the
legendary pirate has hauled and hanged
the legendary Chinaman through so many
novelties, will become to our descend.
ants as mystical and as monstrous -
the farthingale or the perruQue.
The difference between the Chinese
change of headdress and the changes which
have occurred in Europe is that the for
mer will probably be sudden and uni.
versal. Here We have altered our fash-
ions so gradually that even In a long
lifetime one has not been able to note
the widest divergences. Who has noted
in writing, that in such and such q defis
mite year wigs came to be generally worn,
or that in such and such another definite
year hair came to be worn in length and
curl and coil? OF course, these queries
apply only to the male sections OF the
European communities, but ii is certain
that the alterations have been gradual
and irrational.
Louis XIV, for instance, happened to
be a little too short for his conception
of Apollolike personal dignity: there
fore, our great-grandfathers wore wigs.
Because the fashion gave height to roy.
atty it then proved comfortable to the
commonalty. Charles i, again, caught
French fashions, and SO by an accident
the Cavalier became opposed to the
Roundhead purely by a visible difference
of couture. The Puritan liked r.o hores-
cence or glorification OF the body. = He
would not let the face wreathe stself 1nto
smiles or the hair fall In rtppies OF van
ity to the neck. He would be suited IN q
sober black. and his hat should have
prim exaggerated lines, and undersft tho
close-cropped crown should butt UP into
the air like a cannon-bau.. O, s-g1 1tei 9
In headdress. more than II anything
else perhaps the influence OF copying 10
always at work. King Edward VII wore
a particular shape OF beard. o III you walk
into the city any day now you will meet
hundreds of middle-aged men who were
evidently such ardent royalsts In his
reign that they trimmed their chfns just
likewise. 1t seems, indeed. that the &c
clesiastical tonsure is the most permanent
form Of distinct couture. Yet things
that are not essential to humanity cannot
avoid change. and the tonsure will no
doubt go. Meanwhile. what Of the lay
fashions? We are all ''roundheads" for
the moment-an We of the civilized peo-
ples-but it is quite possible that we shall
begin to find objections. say, to badness.
and shall take to wigs or skull-caps; or that
we shall take to shaving half our heads
quite clean and letting the other half
adorn itself with ribbon and curl: or that
We shall. But the possibilities are
innumerable. The Chinese. after altering
their custom will no doubt find that they
have set out upon an endless. futile move
ment Of change In couture.