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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1904)
I 1 3 If i 1 i J; I I ln day of elaborate halrdresslng, writes AJjUtW LaSi b JVSPST V 1 & ' I iHf' I ... 7V I f! i - V iJ SNj O -4 ' i - i I I Ii. nnf h,s euIoe" to charms more certainly her 0jajt,"",,"""''-c Vpj 5 y' jfii Kjffvi'- j I -jV fl"; V'fo ' r--t"!" ?i r': r'- I 51 aiogw a certain granae aame or rari mr ra incur- i f xyCc rr:t T il t c iti iTIit satirical or an unsophisticated poet who. In these days of elaborate halrdresslng, .writes sonnets to his lady's hair. The wise one con fine his eulogies to charms more certainly her own. There Is an awful warning ln the fact, published not long ago, that In the chignon of a certain grande dame of Paris there Is Incor porated the spoils of the heads of thirty women. For this state of affairs In life and literature both fashion and wo.nan's vanity are equally responsible. The present low s'.yle of halrdresslng, combined as It Is with the fluffy pompadour, would require the tresses of one of the seven Sutherland sisters for a successful natural coiffure. Yet this form of feminine deceit Is probably as old as the Roman forum. Certainly the wearing of false hair by cele brated beauties dates back to a period before the Christian era. Ovid refers to the hair of Germanic slaves, which the Roman women used to complete their head dresses. So common, Indeed, was this practice In the imperial city that the women publicly made their purchases at the shops of the Gallia hair merchants, which stood near the Temple of the Muhcs, under the peristyle of the Temple of Hercules. The beauties of today are less ingenuous. Their coifTures are among the deepest mysteries of the toilet Mere man must take them on faith. A woman's head dress today, like her age, should be estimated by her face value. Sell Hair to Buy Trousseaux. The woman of fashion thinks more highly of nature's crown of beauty than does the peasant girl who is more richly endowed with the treasured tresses. The former will sell her jewels, if need be, to secure this Important addition to her toilet. The latter, on -the other hand, will part with her luxuriant hair for a bright cotton handkerchief, a calico drees pattern, or a single franc. In some parts of France, for Instance, the custom of selling the hair has become so common among the women that it is said " to run ln the blood." At Mont Lucon girls sell their hair, with full consent of their future husbands, in order to get what It will bring toward their trousseaux. Thrifty farmers' wives, whose husbands are amply able to provide them with the Simple luxuries of their place and generation, sell their hair for a few coppers or for a gay print gown. In the big towns, of course, the women are able to command a better price. Yet the average value of a head of hair, as It grows, is 10 francs, or $2 In American money. All the European countries, and some of the Asiatic, sup- ' ply the woman of fashion with her puffs, her waves, and her switches. From Germany comes the high priced blond hair, known as the " angel blond." Sweden stands second ln the blond hair trade. That most expensive long white or silver gray hair is grown by the Bavarian peasantry. From Alsace comes the ash colored hair whose tint cannot be pro duced artificially. The deep black hahr is especially a Hun garian growth. Brittany and Normandy furnish the best dark hair, although good grades are exported from Italy, chiefly from Sicily, Naples, and the papal states. A lesser quantity oames from Austria, Belgium, Bohemia, and Spain. V Some of the hair Is used just as It grows, but a great deal of ; It Is either dyed or mixed. The somber Spanish hair is softened by shades more delicate. The towlike tint of Flem- Ish hair must be made a sunnier hue by the addition of 1 German hair of a golden blond. Chinese hair plays a con splcous part In halrdresslng. The Chinese women who do their hair only once a fortnight find every time they take It down that a great quantity of It has loosened. This they sell In great masses, and It Is carefully worked over, dyed to the desired shades, and sent all over the world. v Breton Wpmen Sell the Most. It Is Brittany which sends the largest supplies of hair to the Paris market, that most renowned of all the hair markets of the world. According to Chateaubriand the Breton hair Hade dates back to the days of Julius Ctesar. "Since the Roman conquest," he writes, "the Gallic women have always sold their blond locks to deck brows less adorned. My Breton compatriots still resign themselves to be clipped on certain fair days, when they exchange the natural coverings of their heads for an India handkerchief." This may be either a cause or a result of the feminine fashion In Brittany of wearing close caps. The Breton hair is the finest ln the world. This Is due partly to the fact that It is seldom combed, never curled, and Is always worn simply rolled up on bands; and It la partly because It Is covered with CHpa during the most active period of Its growth. It finds so ready a market that dealers are not content to limit their trade to fair time. All the year round they Journey through rural provinces trying to tempt the hair off feminine heads by displays of glossy looking red and yellow cotton handkerchiefs. Many a peas ant girl returns home at evening from her dally work of tending plgw or cows along the highway minus the flaxen or raven locks which adorned her when she set out in the morning. But she Is richer by a new handkerchief on her head or by a franc In her bosom. The Normandy girls are vainer than their sisters of Brit tany. Though they let the rest of their hair be cut short they leave a chignon over which they can arrange their high caps, coquettishly producing an effect so well calculated that they appear not to have lost any of their hair at all. Hair Merchant Plies Trade Shrewdly. Nowadays, since railroads have put the smaller cities of Germany and France into touch with the world of trade, it is only in the rural villages that the hair market flourishes in all its celebrated glory. There the traveling hair merchant does business as openly and noisily as any barker on the St. Ixuis Pike. This personage has more than Yankee shrewdness. He takes care to arrive in town on market day, or when a fair has drawn thither the people of all the region round about. On the fair grounds, in the midst of egg and butter stalls, Ittween booths of garden produce, he draws up his canvas Afbr the cli'p- cnbrlolet. with Its little trl-colored flags floating above It. ln front of It he takes his stand, either on a wine cask turned on end or on a diminutive wooden platform which he has brought for the purpose. With his hat on the back of his head, his sleeves rolled up, his collarless shirt turned In at the throat, he proclaims by every look, every gesture that he feels himself master of the situation. A great ?rowd pressee around him. There are women In sabots, with bright cotton aprons tied over their short serge petticoats. If It is winter they have on close caps, or their heads are bound with colored handkerchiefs. In sum mer hats with broad brims flap around their comely faces. There are men there, too, who have come to market with their wives, their sisters, or their sweethearts. Their large felt hats are faded, like their short jackets, apple green ln color. With gesture and voice the hair merchant Invites the women to step up and show him their hair. By long practice ln the arts of cajolery, he has become the wit and the flat terer of the countryside. One after another the girls yield to his persuasions. Each In turn steps up on the wine cask, and, throwing aside her cap or kerchief, loosens her heavy tresses, and, with a characteristically feminine sweep of her hand, spreads them over her shoulders. The dealer examines carefully the head of hair liefore him, and makes an offer for It. This Is the signal for one of the noisy bargains unequaled off the continent. Hut at last both parties come to terms. The girl disappears Into the hooded wagon which forms the dealer's booth. Here an assistant is waiting for her with his shears, and presently she steps forth again, shorn of her crown of glory. Holding her hands to her head, which feels so strangely light and cool, she runs away, followed by the Jeers and laughter of the crowd. Then the scene repeats Itself over and over.' Occasionally the day ends In a row. Perhaps a lover is angered by the change In his sweetheart's appear ance, and drives her despoller off the fair grounds, pursuing him with a volley of stones, eggs, and refuse of the market stalls. t Tearful Children Led to Sacrifice. It is a more pathetic sight when a child Is led by her elders to be shorn, like a lamb being led to the sacrifice. Often the little ones nre frightened by the strangeness of the occasion and surroundings, and hang back, weeping. An old woman fairly drags her unwilling little granddaughter up to the cabriolet Pulling off the child's cap she holds up to view the soft, luxuriant tresses beneath It. The dealer looks them over critically and makes a price. The old woman cries out upon him for a cheat. He insists that the popular de mand is for blond hair, not for black. They have It back and forth like two angry costermongers. Meanwhile the frightened child shrinks back, digging her toes into the Creatot cf GclcLero Looks., earth nervously, and eying reluctantly the treasured masses of her hair. Finally a price Is agreed on. The dealer seats himself on his three legged stool, grips his victim between his knees of Iron, grasps with one hand the long dark hair which showers over her slender shoulders, and, with the other brandishes a great pair of open shears. " O, monsieur!" the child crlos, "I am afraid you will hurt me." For answer he clips close to the head one of the heavy tresses. " O, monsieur," she begs. " Just one lock to fasten my comb to." But, unheeding, he crops the hair close, rolls up the bunches of It, which he has placed to one side as he cut them off, ties all up together, and puts them Into a bag which h tosses into his wagon. Trembling, the child quickly ties her cap over her shorn head, so passers-by will not see how bereft she is. Meanwhile her grandmother selects greedily the gaudiest of the hand kerchiefs which the dealer has In his stock and hurries her grandchild away into the crowd. Where Stage Wigs Come From. For puffs and waves, In which lung hair is not demanded, quality and color do not need to be especially considered, l ong hairs, pulled out from combs and thrown on the streets o; Paris In rubbish heaps, are carefully picked up by rag pickers, who sell them to be made Into cheap curls and puffs in which the roots are not all at one end. The cheaper stage wigs, both red and yellow, are made from flax found In France. Tips of the tails of European buffalo are also used for this purpose rather a Joke, this, on the stage door admirer, who has lost his heart to the golden lecks of sme footlight fairy. Most of the hair reaches the manufactories In bulk, packed Into large sacks, which hold each a couple of hundredweight. After it has been well washed ln boiling water, passed through a bath of potash, and thoroughly dried, the tresses are sorted roughly, according to length and shade. Then the principal locks of the same tress which differ In shade are separated. The upper ends of each tress are placed together evenly. By a second, more careful sorting the hair Is ar ranged In bundles which weigh from ten to twelve pounds. It Is then taken up In small handfuls by workmen, who powder It thoroughly with fine flour, comb It vigorously on 'Iron carders, and separate the hair according t- length. Again it Is combed, this time on fine carders. Finally the falsi tresses are put together composed of hair of the same tint and of slightly varying lengths, according to he desired propor tions. And presently the woman of fas'iion wears them on her head as confidently, as proudly as they were her own bv a right more personal than that of i'lhase. FM&MWEAB. BOAT RACE IN CHINESE WATERS. LONG FINGER NAILS. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. t ' . .V xV-,. -.A v. . its Z-'i ' 4 w TO HEROES. IAPANESE ABORIGINES. 2SviS?.'W' ...... r-y ;S'Hk!-" This new picture ot the martyr president shows a German artist's Idea of him. It Is from IIlu8tlste Zeltung, the leading Illustrat ed paper of Germany. WALKING LEAF. S mK flr:-' h.-hWh, ; ..mM,t I They belong to a wealthy native of Annum, who prides himself on their length as proof that he doesn't work. HORNET'S NEST. V.. -L. T.. fS i ' 'i ' : : i f :'J" tkf v li I -IK r." v wM; 1 v Prof. Starr says the hairy Alnus are the YOUNG KIOWA. true aborigines of Japan. IGORROTE GIRL. This Is a vertical section of a hornet's nest. It contains thousands of broad cells arranged In several conical galleries. At the bottom or center of each gallery is a small bole, enabling the Insects to reach every cell. An other hole at the bottom of the nest affords Ingress and egress. The "walking stick" insect, which looks' like a dead twig, is common In America, but the " walking leaf " Is found only In the tropics. Its body looks exactly like two leaves, and its head and feet resemble small er leaves. The natives of Surinam believe that It grows, as a bud, on & tree, and other primitive races think that plants grow from its eggs. It Is an example of " protective mimicry," for Its resemblanoe to leaves makes it almost Invisible, and therefore pro tects It from its enemies. Monument at Halifax to Canadian soldiers who died at the Tugela river during th Boer war. Canada has erected twenty-four monuments to her South African heroes. POTATOES New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Penn sylvania lead all states In the production of potatoes. Diagram shows relative produc tion ln millions of bushels. The race took piece at Aberdeen, near Hongkong, on the holiday of the dragon boat festival. The boats themselves are about 88 feet long, and are manned by from sixty to a hundred rowers, each armed with a small paddle, a gong beater, whose duty It originally was to scare the fish away, and a fan waver, who, by picturesque waving of fans. Indicate the course to the steersman who la crouching In the stern. PHOTOS OF EYES. CHICAGO'S GROWTH. -.. II , ' 1 ' I MIO Mt ' MM MtO WM wee o ISM M Thejr wars obtained by a aewly invented Diagram showing population of Chicago instrument WHY IT PAYS TO RAISE ANGORA GOATS. V.' ' J- " 'fiVfefeife'v: K ' li ; -:$ ItevR Iff I . r f a- -TN v at each oensus lo hundrU of thousands. Angora goats clearing a mountain side farm of shrubs and sapUngs, not only bslp the pioneer but thrive on the coarse food. This- Is raid to be the only pure bluudcd Kiowa baby living. The Comanche u their wars against the Klowas almist ob literated the tribe. A few families of Otae Kiowa blood yet live in Oklahoma. The Igorrote belle who docs not smoke a pipe is considered as unsophisticated as the American who cannot play golf or bridge Whist.