Head covering

“ Any covering conceals the hair; and if you remove from sight this intrinsically beautiful integument, it is a principle of bad taste to put in its place only a poor copy of the same contour. If you cover the head, cover it with something that forms lines not curving like the skull, nor yet so angular as to create too striking an opposition of ideas in the mind of the beholder. A close-fitting untasseled skull-cap does not improve the form of the head, for it is not half so graceful as the hair; but a square hat or pyramidal cap is truly detestable. ”

“ Nature, in her bounty, seems to have provided in part against the necessity of the hat, by giving to the head a thick and abundant covering of hair, but, instead of considering this as an indication that the head required no other protection, mankind seems rather to have regarded it as a hint to keep this most important part of the body well covered. ”

“ THE HEAD. There is no part of the body which has been more exposed to the vicissitudes of fashion than the head, both as regards its natural covering of hair, and the artificial covering of caps and bonnets. At one time, we read of sprinkling the hair with gold dust; at another time, the bright brown hair, of the color of the horse-chestnut, so common in Italian pictures, was the fashion. ”

“ A well-dressed woman, in selecting her hat, must have given consideration to the relation of the size and shape of the head to the lines of the entire figure. Strictly speaking, a hat is a covering for the head, and it should seem to belong to the head, to protect it, and, through harmony of colour and proportion of line and mass, to improve the appearance of the whole costume. The artist, when drawing a figure, uses the head as the unit of measure. ”

“ Figs. 37, 38, 42 and 43 on the same page are samples of Russian hats. In some parts of that country the head-covering of the people is made of birch bark and plaited grasses; but fur is the material most commonly used. The prevailing male head-dress of the inhabitants of Asia Minor appears to be the Phrygian bonnet, of which the characteristic features with them are its point on top, bent forward, and its long flaps descending on the shoulders. This style of hat was worn for many centuries, and traveled as far west as Venice, where the Doge always wore one. ”

“ A covering to the head at all is so opposite to their own ideas that it arouses suspicion, for we must remember that animals look on our clothes as our skin. To have a black skin over the hair of the head is somewhat odd. ”

“ The head, of course, will keep its usual position outside of the covers. No underclothing or night clothing should be worn when attempting to carry out this idea.
The problems associated with covering are of considerable importance. Many people are unable to sleep because of cold feet and many are overheated by an excess of covering. It should not be necessary to bury one's self underneath a heavy load of covers in order to keep the feet warm. Use as little covering as possible and still maintain the bodily warmth. ”

“ For Nature will be sure to whisk the hair away from your ears where you want it, and into your eyes where you don't want it, besides crowning you with magnificent disorder in the morning. But as I have always believed that no evil exists without its remedy, I had long been exercising my inventive genius in attempts to produce a head-gear which should at once protect the ears, confine the hair, and let the skull alone. ”

“ Before, however, we leave, for the present, the subject of head coverings, we ought to mention that a piece of woven material as primitively used without even a restraining band, still survives in the shape of the small shawl which north-country girls and women very generally wear over their heads. ”

“ The form of the human body can be imitated by taking a suit of old garments, stuffing them with straw, and covering them with buff cambric, on which hieroglyphics can be painted. A large mask, with artificial [Pg 93] hair, and crown made of gaudy-colored cloth, will answer for the head; a short frock of red Turkey cloth, trimmed with gold paper, should be fastened about the lower portion of the body. The idol should be seated on a pedestal sixteen inches high, which is placed on a platform three feet square and eight inches high. ”

“ The left hand rests on the side of the body; the eyes [Pg 132] are directed to the birds; the face beams with smiles. Love is standing on one of the pedestals, holding in her right hand a torch, which is raised above her head, while the left gracefully holds the side of her dress. The head should be turned slightly aside, the eyes looking straight forward; countenance diffused with smiles. A gauze curtain may be suspended before the statues, covering the entire space inside of the frame. The light for this scene should be of medium brilliancy, and come from the front of the stage. ”

“ A flat cap with a protecting fall to keep the back of the head warm, is fixed tight upon that head, which seems as closely shaven as the cheeks and chin; at all events, there is no appearance of hair from beneath it. ”

“ Because the beautiful shoulder slips tremulously from the heavy mouth, which lies against the smooth, polished flesh; because this shoulder rises again toward the head, slightly bent and inclined, as if to draw toward it some loved one; because the neck swells like that of a dove, and the head is stretched forward to offer a kiss, we seem to catch a glimpse of the whole body and its delicate curves. ”

“ They have on each side of the head a thick large tuft of hair hanging over the shoulder, about five inches in length and three in circumference, and they habitually cover their heads with a piece of coloured stuff, always dirty, like the rest of their garments. ”

“ The first step in studying a head is to observe its general contour,—whether the forehead projects far in front of the ear, to indicate intellect; whether the upper surface rises above the forehead sufficiently to indicate the nobler qualities, and whether it is balanced or overpowered by the breadth and depth of the base of the skull and thickness of the neck. ”

“ The lower part of the forehead, though more perceptive than the crown of the head, in correspondence with a somewhat greater converse with the hands, is less than one-third as perceptive as the tip of the nose ”

“ Lastly, there is the iniquity of false hair—as if the good God did not know the proper amount of herbage to grow from each female head! Once there was a holy man who could heal the sick. A young noblewoman suffered from grievous headaches. The miracle worker took one glance at her towering headpiece. "First," said he, "remove that scaffolding which surmounts your head. ”

“ I call it extreme hot when the strength fails, a disposition to faint comes on, a straitness is found in the temples, as if a small cord was drawn tight around the head, the voice impaired, the skin dry, and the head seems more than ordinarily large and light. ”

“ On the other hand, in the execution of heads all attempt to represent Nature is abandoned. One uniform design of [Pg 210] face is throughout apparent in all the heads despite every divergence of action, character, and situation; the noses are pointed; the forehead is still the retreating type, which fails to rise up straight and with freedom; the ears are set high in the head; the long slit eyes are flat and oblique; the closed mouth ends in corners which are pursed outwards ”

“ There are two for the Forehead, call'd Frontal, whose Origine is in the upper part of the Head, from whence they descend by streight Fibres, until they are fasten'd in the Skin of the Forehead near the Eye-Brows, where they are re-united: Their Action or Office is to draw the Skin of the Forehead upward, whereto they stick very close. ”

“ We must judge of heads then from their shape, and from the processes which arise from them: from their shape, if well formed, for that is always a good sign; and from the processes of the brain, if they be in their proper state, and if the nervous parts be all properly nourished, have their suitable tone, and if the sight be acute. Sharp heads are defective in the protuberance of the front or hind-head, or else it is unnaturally increased. ”

“ You can nearly always detect a bald-headed man, even while his hat is on his head, by the display and luxuriance of the hair peeping out from under his hat. With the bald-headed man every hair is brought into requisition, every hair is brushed and bristled up into a sort of barricade against the eyes of the curious. ”

“ As we speak the name of each part, let each one touch that part of himself which is named. We will begin with the head. The chief parts of the head are the skull and the face. The forehead, the temples, the cheeks, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, and the chin are parts of the face. ”

“ The head is as large as the rest of the body, and upon it we can now see distinctly the eyes, like two black dots, the mouth, like a line, and also the nose. The lower extremity is lengthened out like a tail. ”

“ From a neck that writhed hideously, as a serpent in pain, wavered a knobbed head, terminating in a great bladed beak. With slow sweep it described majestic circles. Always the waving head gave the impression of hopeless search. ”

“ Here I may also observe that children's ears are frequently disfigured by hats which are pressed down too low upon the head, or by the elastic or strings of the hat, which, being carelessly fastened under the chin, push the ears forwards and outwards. ”

“ But when it is disfigured by a large mass of hair, resembling a large pin-cushion, all that peculiar native grace which we so much admire is lost sight of. When all heads are made to look alike and equally large, there is no advantage in having a small and well shaped head. ”

“ Besides, the better class of people are not content with the process of beautifying themselves which I have just described, but surround the forehead, temples and back of the head with a head-band, a curious arrangement made of woven black horse-hair, which keeps the real hair tight under it, and not only prevents it from being blown about, but forms a more solid basis for the wonderful hats they wear. ”

“ In one sense it was a ‘little’ hat—that is to say, it fitted a man with a moderate sized skull—but the flaps were much larger than pictures would lead one to think, and such was the weight that I am sure it would give any ordinary man accustomed to our head-gear a still neck to wear it for an hour. ”

“ The top of the head in man occupies the same position, as the uppermost surface of the body, as the back does in quadrupeds. Now, if the protective qualities of the hair are rendered unnecessary by extraneous aids, the hair, having no longer a use, will tend to fall off. ”

“ Moreover, he now had a fine head of soft brown hair, with eyebrows and eyelashes to match, and his head was shapely and in proportion to his body. As for the eye that had formerly been in the back of his head, it had disappeared completely. ”

“ The caul of the head-dress is richly embroidered, the veil above being supported by wires, in the shape of a heart, with double lappets behind the head, which are sometimes transparent, as if made of gauze. ”

“ A head, strictly speaking, is the prerogative of man, formed beneath a skull which rounds the forehead and determines the face. The more the front recedes and inclines to the horizontal, so much the nearer a head [379] approaches the form of a brute; the more it inclines to the perpendicular, the more it gains of man. ”

“ Could there be modeled a more vicious face? Notice the development back of the ears, showing the head to be all animal, and the pinched forehead and the general insignificance of the front head as compared with the development of the back portion. There is murder in every line of that face. ”

“ This lake was, in former times, of much greater extent than at present, covering a large proportion of the Great Basin, as is shown by the pebbly lines marking its former beach, more than seven hundred feet above its present level, and which stretch for hundreds of miles unbroken along the bases of the mountains. Mr. Clarence King, in his explorations during the year 1869, discovered and traced the former outlet of this vast inland sea, which was through the Snake, or Shoshone River, to the Pacific Ocean. Few places can vie with Salt Lake City in natural beauty of location. ”

“ Others again make bald the front of the head, in order to display the forehead to greater advantage. Some twist their flowing hair round a small style, a foot high, and afterwards cover it with a black veil. ”

“ Capacity for literature and expression is indicated by fulness of the eye, by heighth and width of the forehead, and, perhaps, especially by the development of the head and forehead at the sides just above the temples and back of the hair line. ”

“ The head and skull offer a number of clues to the controlling secretions in the blood and tissues. Whether the forehead is to be broad or narrow, the distance between the eyes, the character of the eyebrows, the shape and size and appearance of the eyes themselves, the mould of the nose and jaws and the peculiarities of the teeth, are all so determined. The skin, in its color, texture, the quantity and distribution of its fatty and other constituents, eruptions and weather reactions, is influenced. ”

“ Moreover, when I took up a pencil in obedience to an impulse to sketch—a talent not normally mine—I found that I could draw nothing but heads, nothing, in fact, but one head—always the same—the head of a dark-skinned woman, with huge and terrible features and a very drooping left eye ”