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Show ???Title Unreadable???. Instead of the barefaced prejudice which a century would have driven a mustached clergyman from the pulpit there now prevails among a certain portion of the community, a custom of wearing the hair so long that they may be said to look like Old Hairy himself. On the whole, we should say, though we may be wrong in that matter, it characterizes the rural politician more than any one class, but it crops out here and there among all classes. As their beards sweep in long tangles down their breasts, many of them spend a good deal of leisure in combing it with their fingers or gently stroking it as if it were the tail of a favorite cat. If a beard be a mark of wisdom, some of these civilized buffalos look as if they might be well nigh omniscient, although a few words from them will quickly dispel any illusion of that sort. They have a pretty fair representation in the Congress of the United States; Michigan has one in the Senate, and they are scattered about in the House like sagebrush on the alkali deserts. A barber, having just been elected to the next Congress from Arkansas, it is hoped that he will bring his influence to bear in favor of a reform. The reform might be more complete if he were a reaper or a lawnmower man; but even as a barber, he can do something towards razing this custom to proper proportions. Perhaps with shorter beards, they would make shorter speeches, for when Polonius complained to Hamlet that the speech of the players was too long, the prince replied. "It shall to the barber's with your beard." These remarks do not apply, however, to those venerable and handsome looking gentlemen whose beards of silver white are an ornament and an honor. It is the black, the russet, the tawny and the scraggly brushes that call for the shears. - Detroit Press. |