Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-02-08
THE DISCARDED QUEUE.
china's Change Of Couture and II
Moral.
From the London Standard

The Son OF Heaven" has just au-
thorixed Cinnamon to discard the queue.
or "pigtail." as we too discourteously
term this appendage OF the hair. and
no doubt the profession OF barber has
become suddenly quite lucrative
throughout the celestial empire. We are
all "roundheads" now. 1t may be said,
n although one must welcome the
disappearance OF any badge OF servi-
tude. II seems regrettable to sentiment
that a kind OF head dress'' so nation
ally significant should disappear alb
ruptly. h blunt neat knob OF hai
turned back on the neck. by which the
legendary pirate has hauled and hanged
the legendary Chinaman through 80
many NOVELTIES. will become to our
descendants as mythical and as MON
strous as the fa%rthingale or the per-
ruque.
The difference between he Chinese
change OF head dress and the changes
which ave occurred in Europe Is that
the former will probably be sudden and
universal. Here we have altered our
fashions so gradually that ven In a long
the widest d~ivergences. Who has noted,
IN writing. that in such and such q
definite year wigs came to be generally
worn, or that In such and such another
DEFINITE yea 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 1t Is certain that the alterations
a been gradual and irrational.
Louis XIV, for instance, happened to
be q 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, 1t then proved comfortable to the
commonality. Charles /, again, caught
French fashions. and so by an accident
the cavalier became opposed to the
r%oundhead purely by a visible differ
ence OF couture. The Puritan liked no
~iorescence or glorification Of the body.
He would not let the face wreathe IT
self into smiles or the hair fall into rip
pies Of vanity to h neck. He would
be suited in a sober black. and his hat
should have prirn exaggerated lines.
and under 1t h close cropped crown
should butt up into the air like a cam
non ball.
In head dress, more than In anything
else perhaps. the influence OF copying is
always at work. King Edward VII wore
a particular shape OF beard. II you walk
into the city any day now you will
meet hundreds OF middle aged men who
were evidently such ardent ~royalists in
his reign that they trimmed their chins
just likewise. 1t seems. indeed. that
the ecclesiastical tonsure is the most
permanent form OF distinct couture.
Yet things that are not essential to HUI
mainly cannot avoid change, and the
tonsure will no doub tgo. Meanwhile,
what of the lay fashions? We are all
"roundheads" for the ~moment-all we
of the civilized peopies-but 1t is quite
possible that we shall begin to find OBJ
jections, say to badness, and shall
take to wigs or skull caps: or that we
| shall AXE to shaving half our heads
quite clean and letting the other half
adOrn itself with ribbon and Curl. mr.
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 end
less. futile movement Of change in
couture.