BEARDS OF FRENCHMEN.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 313, 7 November 1929, Page 2

BEARDS OF FRENCHMEN.

DISAPPEARING ADORNMENTS. In a paraphrase of a famous line of Francois Villon, “Le Petit Pai-mien* * asks: “Where are the whiskers of yesterday?” The paper then proceeds to answer the question: ‘‘The war did it; the war perpetuated it; and now the safety razor has made it permanent. The ‘poilus* who so gallantly rushed to the front in 1914 re-

turned a few months later ‘chauve aves la barbe rasee. ’ Thus hygiene began the work, which was soon completed by feminine compliments at home, and we became a nation of priests—at least as far as the absence of capillary adornment was concerned. Then came the safety razor from America, that land of the beardless Indian, and the thing was done.’’ More sedate is the explanation given by another paper: During the last few years young Frenchmen have taken to shaving much more comprehensively than their fathers did. The absolute clean shave ,is now widespread, and for the most part the moustaches to be seen are of the diminutive military toothbrush variety. A few impressive whiskers may still be seen at Montparnasse, but those who happen to be able to distinguish the few real artists amid the horde of idlers and worse by whom that alleged artistic milieu is now infested are aware that a hirsute embarrassment of riches is no longer regarded as a sure road to the Prix de Rome.”